Psychedelics like LSD, ketamine, MDMA, and psilocin (also known as magic mushrooms) show promise in offering new treatments for a wide variety of disorders. These include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, stroke, traumatic brain injury, substance-use disorder, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The compounds can reduce inflammation and promote neuroplasticity — potentially producing healing effects on the brain and lasting benefits for patients.

David E. Olson is the director of the UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics and an associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine. In this presentation, Olson shares how psychedelics induce neuroplasticity and why it is relevant to treating a variety of brain conditions. He also discusses the institute's efforts to develop compounds that are chemically similar to psychedelics and are safe, effective and more scalable.

Whether you're a mental health professional, researcher, advocate, or simply curious about the intersection of psychedelics and health, this lecture offers a unique opportunity to learn how psychedelics are shaping the future of health care and mental health.

Watch lectures from the UC Davis Psychedelic Summit:    • Psychedelic Summit 2023 - UC Davis He...  
UC Davis Plugged In Virtual Event Series:    • Plugged In: Virtual Event Series  
UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics: https://neurotherapeutics.ucdavis.edu
See the latest news from UC Davis Health: https://health.ucdavis.edu/newsroom

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0:00 Psychoplastogens explained
2:40 Introductions
4:08 Traditional mental health treatments
5:32 How psychoplastogens work
8:00 Promoting structural neural plasticity in the brain
10:11 Treating neurons with psychedelic compounds
13:24 Engineering optimized therapeutics
16:29 Decoupling hallucinogenic effects
20:28 Experiment: TBG
23:35 New tests of neuroplasticity
27:17 Creating new compounds
28:51 Example: treating schizophrenia
31:25 UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics
37:14 Studying a new compound
43:26 Q&A with viewers

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The information in this video was accurate as of the upload date, 4/30/2024. For information purposes only. Consult your local medical authority for advice.

#psychedelics #neuroplasticity #mentalhealth #research #ucdavis