Healing

  Inside the Nervous System: Dr. Eva Altobelli on Integrative Psychiatry & Polyvagal Healing — Recalibrated Vision with Bianca Ariel, MBA Jump to: About Dr. Eva Altobelli Integrative Psychiatry Explained Polyvagal Healing & Nervous System Insights Practical Tips for Mental Wellness Listen to the Full Podcast About Dr. Eva Altobelli Dr. Eva Altobelli is a leading integrative psychiatrist based in Los Angeles, specializing in treating complex mental health challenges through a holistic, patient-centered approach. With a focus on understanding the interplay between the mind, body, and nervous system, Dr. Altobelli integrates conventional psychiatric treatments [...]

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 [...]

This one-day conference provides a research-backed overview of psychedelic-assisted therapies, clarifying safe and effective integration into mental health and addiction services. We will examine their healing potential through psychodynamic, biochemical, somatic, relational, and spiritual lenses. Dr. Eva Altobelli Discusses the mental health and addiction epidemic, limited efficacy of current treatment and research indicating the potential benefit of psychedelic medicine. Clinical description of ketamine therapy as well as potential use of MDMA and psilocybin.   Dr. David Laramie: Will present on some of the possible therapeutic and philosophical implications of working clinically with expanded states as well as associated [...]

From the first humans who painted visions onto cave walls, to today’s clinical trials with psilocybin and MDMA, our species has always sought meaning, healing, and connection through extraordinary states of consciousness. What we now call “psychedelic medicine” is not a modern invention—it’s a remembering. A return. A fire that’s never fully gone out. The story begins long before there were borders, empires, or even language as we know it. Across the continents, early humans gathered in circles, guided by dreams, instinct, and the natural world. In some of the oldest cave art found—like the mushroom figures painted 7,000 years [...]

Psychiatry can get a bad reputation as psychiatrists we are relegated to the role of pill pushers. I know many of us do work that way, with a quick conversation and then out comes the prescription pads. On some level, that has been dictated by the insurance industry, which will only compensate a short medication management visit and not compensate at all if medications are not part of the picture. I would like to try and put a more human face to psychiatry and change our role from drug pushers to actual health care providers. To me, humanizing psychiatry includes [...]