Tuesday 7 June 2016

The Lancet / Media storm




The study findings were published a few weeks back and the response has been
supportive and positive. Even the Daily Mail and The Sun newspapers run a good
balanced story. Some of the headlines were silly though. It was also covered in
The Guardian, Express, Independent, Daily MirrorMetro and spread like wildfire
across the internet and more alternative media. My friend Ian (also a participant)
was interviewed for Buzzfeed.com about his experience on the study.

There was also a feature on the study shown on BBC's Newnight where another
participant was able to give his account of the experience and even showed some
footage from the session. I Discussed the coverage with another trial percipient
and we were both pleasantly surprised at the avoidance of sensualist headlines
and basic 
scaremongering we were both expecting.

I was interviewed for Sky news. They asked if I would be willing to be interviewed
live. I declined. That felt like a bit too much pressure and I was fairly nervous about
doing the interview anyway. They asked for a photo of my mother, I obliged. They
wanted to film me looking  at it and I read this as "lets try and make him cry during
the  interview. I didn't cry. I was not even choked up slightly like I expected to be.
They showed the photo of my mother in the segment. That was a nice touch.

Later on the same day I interviewed for a slot covering the study on ITV news,
shown at 10:30pm that night. I managed to see both pieces aired on the same day.
The editing turn-a-round is so quick. I felt a tad weird putting all of it "out there".
Talking about the grief and how I felt. I re-edited  in my head what I should
have said, afterwards on the way home.

Just over a week later I was filmed by another documentary / film making
company called Ideo Films. They were very nice and we spent more time going
through the details of before, during and after the Psilocybin trial. I got a little choked
up going though it all again. I wish I hadn't and feel a little apprehensive about the
outcome of that piece but will have to wait and see.

I was also interviewed for a Danish TV show, DR TV.  Once again they were very
nice. We met David Erritzoes and we were filmed reminiscing about the study whilst
looking at some of the videos Robin had recorded on my phone, for this blog.

David mentioned a really good talk by Bill Richards titled "Promise of psychedelics
in medicine" from a recent conference he attended in Amsterdam, with Robin.
Robin Carhart-Harris also gave a talk covering the recent Psilocybin study.

I'm moving house in just over 2 weeks time.


Thursday 21 April 2016

Psychedelic science media 2016


There have been a number of videos released over the last few weeks so I wanted to
 put them together here. Mostly related to the Psilocybin / LSD study carried out by
 Robin Carhart-Harris and his interviews in the UK media as well as the US studies.
There were some features on BBC's Radio 4 and an article for mosaicscience.com



Robin Carhart-Harris talking LSD Brain studies at TEDx.



Robin discusses the LSD brain study on CNN with a confused news anchor.



Robin discusses the LSD brain study on BBC Radio 4.



The science of psilocybin and its use to relieve suffering.


Radio 4 discusses psychedelics - click to open
Radio 4 discusses psychedelics - click to open



Sam Wong article "psychedelic therapy" for: mosaicscience.com
Sam Wong article "psychedelic therapy" for: mosaicscience.com



First LSD brain imaging study offers insights into consciousness
First LSD brain imaging study offers insights into consciousness

Wednesday 30 March 2016

Entheogen Podcast




Just in at the 6 month mark, following the Psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms)
medical trial for depression I contacted the Entheogen show. I asked if my
experience would be of interest to them :) I've been listening to and enjoying
the show for a while. They were great guys to talk to and very cool.

Here's the podcast: 025: PSYCHEDELIC MEDICINE TRIALS 

This is Entheogen. Talk about tools for generating the divine within.
Today is February 28, 2016, and we are discussing Psychedelic Medicine
Trials with a participant in a recent psilocybin study.

Find the notes and links for this and other episodes at EntheogenShow.com.
Sign up to receive an email when we release a new episode.

Follow us @EntheogenShow on Twitter and like EntheogenShow on FaceBook.
Special thanks to our guest on today’s show who offers listeners a rare glimpse
ofwhat it’s like to participate in a psychedelic medicine trial. Kirk worked with
Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, David Erritzoe (who sat in on the sessions),
Prof. David Nutt (who oversaw the project), and Mark Bolstridge at the Imperial
College of London, studying the impact of psilocybin on depression.