This is what one presidential candidate wrote about the FDA decision: "MDMA treatment for PTSD and other mental illnesses has a big drawback — a single treatment is effective. That means small profit potential compared to lifetime treatment with conventional pharmaceuticals. Maybe that’s why an FDA advisory committee shot it down. One of the committee members actually works for Johnson & Johnson.
It’s especially serious for veterans. Every hour, a veteran commits suicide. MDMA is a promising PTSD treatment, but Big Pharma hates it because it doesn't require daily pills for life."
This may be your best article/post I’ve read. Brilliant Jamie. I’ve just come through 7 months of hell battling an aggressive Stage 2 colon cancer. The tumor had breached the anterior wall of my colon with 3 fingers, and according to the colonoscopy doctor it was big, fat, healthy, happy and growing - and too big and dangerous to operate on. In addition to chemo and radiation, I must have piled on 20+ various alternative therapies and protocols. From Yoga Nidra meditations to ee Therapy light rooms, to copious amounts of Curcumin and Metatrol. And plenty of prayers by friends and family for a miraculous healing. Surgery was planned for 2 weeks from now and yesterday I got the call from my surgeon that the tumor is gone and the biopsy was negative for cancer cells. Incidentally, this surgeon had the best bedside manner of any doctor I’ve ever had. He was pure empathy and kindness and compassion. In sum total, the kitchen sink worked. I believe you are spot on with your theories in this post. Thank you for your beautiful mind.
Wow - so glad you are recovered and healthy, and I bet that wonderful surgeon played a part in your journey of healing. I had a similar experience with cancer 20 years ago. Tumor gone, biopsy negative, everyone telling me it was a miracle, when I knew it was a whole kitchen sink of healing, time off of work, and a mind-bending session of Reiki (of all things) with my beloved sister that brought me back to health. I literally saw the cells leave my body in a relaxed brain wave state. So grateful that you mentioned Yoga Nidra meditation and red light therapy!
I have been kitchen-sinking it for 46 years as a licensed psychologist and now as a transformational coach. Great article! However, when I put my old psychologist hat on, I see that you left out the interaction effects of these multiple interventions. Soft music may only work when accompanied by soft lighting. There are also the possible effects of sub-grouping. Younger folks might not respond to soft/trance-like music but do much better with a noisy background. This is extremely complicated, however there are experimental designs and statistics that can handle SOME of this complexity.
Great read, thank you. It got me wondering about another element, too — the “self-selecting group” effect, if you will, of “the type of person willing to volunteer to participate in a study of this type”.
Loved this Jamie as usual. The kitchen sink and the usually ignored niceties of ritual, environment and connection… allow. Meet the patient where they are and give permission to flex, to accept new information, vibrations/ resonance & healing. As per Parker J & Erin Q etc. more power to you..🤗
Love this share - interesting how little attention placebos get considering their profound implications. I also wonder if the placebo affect can be characterized as a measure of the role contentedness & community plays in our health.
Thank you for commenting on this, Jamie. I really appreciate how you framed the ending - not as a setback but as an opportunity for a paradigm shift in our approach. Starting from a wholly different point is prudent, and you clearly lay out why. I just wish we could throw off the yoke of for-profit scheming within experimental drug research data and prioritize human thriving above all else. I understand that R&D costs a lot and drug companies want their returns, but these corporate entities are so large as to be able to absorb occasional losses if the data around safety and efficacy are just not supporting their latest product.
Community, ritual and ceremony are missing from our lives. Everyone is working to replace it, often with terrible lines of thought and ways of being that make life worse. But in those cases, at least our misery gets some company.
Taking a step back, the entire three phase clinical trial model is mostly outdated--kinda like the electoral college. In the most general terms, Phase I is for safety and Phase II is for efficacy, but the observations from Phase I are not supposed to be used in Phase II. Phase III has been for dose escalation for greatest efficacy. There are a number of scientists who have argued to change the model, many who believe once safety is established, results for efficacy could be uploaded into a cloud database, vastly expanding the cohort of patients and results. One of the biggest proponents for this was Arnold Caplan of Case Western, who sadly died this January. With the revolving door between FDA and Big Pharma, there are billions of economic reasons to hold on to what they've got and resist change. MDMA offers cures, not a lifetime of purchasing drugs from those companies.
Thank you for this. In the end, what you wrote at the end, is hopefully where we will end.
So while this week’s ruling might be perceived as a setback for advocates of psychedelic therapies, in reality, it might be a breakthrough.
The scientific method which has been so dedicated to atomizing bits (the component parts) from Its (the living wholes)–might need to reverse its approach.
If we want to study wholeness and healing, we might be better of starting from the wholes, and work backwards to the bits that are broken.
The problem of science is that it states: “It doesn’t destroy anything if we always try to find the root cause.” But real happenings aren’t based on the past.
We lost the Art of the Happening to the Art of Cause. We’ve built our whole society in this way. Instead of doings the opposite, create the happenings we need to create the future we want, we repeat the things we did over and over again.
This is what one presidential candidate wrote about the FDA decision: "MDMA treatment for PTSD and other mental illnesses has a big drawback — a single treatment is effective. That means small profit potential compared to lifetime treatment with conventional pharmaceuticals. Maybe that’s why an FDA advisory committee shot it down. One of the committee members actually works for Johnson & Johnson.
It’s especially serious for veterans. Every hour, a veteran commits suicide. MDMA is a promising PTSD treatment, but Big Pharma hates it because it doesn't require daily pills for life."
This may be your best article/post I’ve read. Brilliant Jamie. I’ve just come through 7 months of hell battling an aggressive Stage 2 colon cancer. The tumor had breached the anterior wall of my colon with 3 fingers, and according to the colonoscopy doctor it was big, fat, healthy, happy and growing - and too big and dangerous to operate on. In addition to chemo and radiation, I must have piled on 20+ various alternative therapies and protocols. From Yoga Nidra meditations to ee Therapy light rooms, to copious amounts of Curcumin and Metatrol. And plenty of prayers by friends and family for a miraculous healing. Surgery was planned for 2 weeks from now and yesterday I got the call from my surgeon that the tumor is gone and the biopsy was negative for cancer cells. Incidentally, this surgeon had the best bedside manner of any doctor I’ve ever had. He was pure empathy and kindness and compassion. In sum total, the kitchen sink worked. I believe you are spot on with your theories in this post. Thank you for your beautiful mind.
Wow - so glad you are recovered and healthy, and I bet that wonderful surgeon played a part in your journey of healing. I had a similar experience with cancer 20 years ago. Tumor gone, biopsy negative, everyone telling me it was a miracle, when I knew it was a whole kitchen sink of healing, time off of work, and a mind-bending session of Reiki (of all things) with my beloved sister that brought me back to health. I literally saw the cells leave my body in a relaxed brain wave state. So grateful that you mentioned Yoga Nidra meditation and red light therapy!
I have been kitchen-sinking it for 46 years as a licensed psychologist and now as a transformational coach. Great article! However, when I put my old psychologist hat on, I see that you left out the interaction effects of these multiple interventions. Soft music may only work when accompanied by soft lighting. There are also the possible effects of sub-grouping. Younger folks might not respond to soft/trance-like music but do much better with a noisy background. This is extremely complicated, however there are experimental designs and statistics that can handle SOME of this complexity.
Great read, thank you. It got me wondering about another element, too — the “self-selecting group” effect, if you will, of “the type of person willing to volunteer to participate in a study of this type”.
Great post, was hoping you’d write about this. Lost it at the JP bit 😂
Been rocking the Kitchen Sink method for years. Time is speeding 🆙
Loved this Jamie as usual. The kitchen sink and the usually ignored niceties of ritual, environment and connection… allow. Meet the patient where they are and give permission to flex, to accept new information, vibrations/ resonance & healing. As per Parker J & Erin Q etc. more power to you..🤗
Everyone needs TLC. We just have to slow down and offer it.
Love this share - interesting how little attention placebos get considering their profound implications. I also wonder if the placebo affect can be characterized as a measure of the role contentedness & community plays in our health.
Thank you for commenting on this, Jamie. I really appreciate how you framed the ending - not as a setback but as an opportunity for a paradigm shift in our approach. Starting from a wholly different point is prudent, and you clearly lay out why. I just wish we could throw off the yoke of for-profit scheming within experimental drug research data and prioritize human thriving above all else. I understand that R&D costs a lot and drug companies want their returns, but these corporate entities are so large as to be able to absorb occasional losses if the data around safety and efficacy are just not supporting their latest product.
Community, ritual and ceremony are missing from our lives. Everyone is working to replace it, often with terrible lines of thought and ways of being that make life worse. But in those cases, at least our misery gets some company.
Taking a step back, the entire three phase clinical trial model is mostly outdated--kinda like the electoral college. In the most general terms, Phase I is for safety and Phase II is for efficacy, but the observations from Phase I are not supposed to be used in Phase II. Phase III has been for dose escalation for greatest efficacy. There are a number of scientists who have argued to change the model, many who believe once safety is established, results for efficacy could be uploaded into a cloud database, vastly expanding the cohort of patients and results. One of the biggest proponents for this was Arnold Caplan of Case Western, who sadly died this January. With the revolving door between FDA and Big Pharma, there are billions of economic reasons to hold on to what they've got and resist change. MDMA offers cures, not a lifetime of purchasing drugs from those companies.
Thank you for this. In the end, what you wrote at the end, is hopefully where we will end.
So while this week’s ruling might be perceived as a setback for advocates of psychedelic therapies, in reality, it might be a breakthrough.
The scientific method which has been so dedicated to atomizing bits (the component parts) from Its (the living wholes)–might need to reverse its approach.
If we want to study wholeness and healing, we might be better of starting from the wholes, and work backwards to the bits that are broken.
Love the Alan Watts vs Jordan Petersen quip 🤣 and the KSM...brilliant.
The problem of science is that it states: “It doesn’t destroy anything if we always try to find the root cause.” But real happenings aren’t based on the past.
We lost the Art of the Happening to the Art of Cause. We’ve built our whole society in this way. Instead of doings the opposite, create the happenings we need to create the future we want, we repeat the things we did over and over again.
Really interesting. Both my son and son-in-law are researchers (neuroscience, infectious disease). Will forward this to them.