Psychedelics and Psychotherapy
How is it that psychedelics can change the way we think? Some neuroscientists think of the psychedelic experience biochemically; serotonin excitation creates an opening to question deeply held beliefs. That opening can lead to a dopamine-driven “wait, there are so many other possibilities” moment, which can shift how we think. This made me wonder: is the therapeutic change driven more by neural excitation and inhibition than by the experience itself? There are ongoing studies looking at whether psychedelics still work without the psychomimetic component. I’m curious—if we remove the altered state, does the change still happen? Or is the intensity [...]
KRATOM: A Wellness Trend with Hidden Risks
I feel compelled to share a public service announcement about something I've been noticing more often in my clinical work: a surprising rise in Kratom use. Some people are intentionally using Kratom, aware that it's a plant with opioid-like properties. But more concerning are those who are unknowingly consuming it—often through "health drinks" sold at upscale health food stores, where Kratom is just one ingredient on the label. Kratom is derived from the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, native to Southeast Asia. While it has traditional uses and can act as a pain reliever or even help with opioid [...]
Brave New Medicine: Ketamine’s Promise and Pitfalls
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World describes a futuristic society pacified by a daily dose of soma—a drug that ensures collective compliance and emotional numbness at the expense of curiosity, dissent, and authentic feeling. As an addiction psychiatrist and clinician who offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), I often find myself reflecting on the parallels between Huxley’s vision and the rapidly expanding, commercialized use of ketamine in modern psychiatry. Ketamine has undeniable therapeutic potential Ketamine has undeniable therapeutic potential. When delivered within a structured, multidisciplinary framework—including careful preparation, guided administration, and integrative psychotherapy—it can be profoundly transformative. It offers individuals the possibility of [...]
On Time, Space, and Being Human
Space, Time, & Einstein Lately I’ve been reading Einstein’s biography, where he talks about space, time, mass, and energy in such creative ways. He describes how space and time cannot be defined without each other—how they are interwoven, inseparable. This led me to reflect on how we, too, exist within the fabric of time. Not just the hours on a clock or the phases of a life, but time as a living element we move through. The Invitation Our language is full of sayings like time is money, the early bird catches the worm, or love at first sight—little cultural [...]
Integrative Psychiatry: Remembering the Soul of Our Work
The word psychiatry carries a history that most of us rarely pause to consider. Its roots trace back to the Medieval Latin psychiatria, which itself is woven from two Greek words: psykhē, meaning mind or soul, and iatreia, meaning healing or care. Built into the very language is an ancient understanding that this field was always meant to tend to the soul. And yet, somewhere along the long arc of scientific progress, we drifted from that. For decades—and in some ways, centuries—we leaned heavily into models that viewed human beings primarily as biological systems, fascinating and intricate, yes, but [...]