Is there a clinical case for psychedelic drugs? Professor David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist, has spent his career trying to demonstrate that the

Can psychedelics cure depression?

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2023-05-21 22:30:15

Is there a clinical case for psychedelic drugs? Professor David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist, has spent his career trying to demonstrate that there is — and that, beyond their recreational powers, drugs such as psilocybin can effectively treat depression. Some of his advocacy has landed him in controversy: in 2009, he was dismissed from a governmental advisory position for his arguments about drug harms. But over the last decade, as more pharmaceutical companies and even the NHS look to psychedelic treatments, he appears to have been vindicated.

This week, Prof Nutt visited the UnHerd Club to discuss his latest research, the resistance he’s faced from the academic community and the transformative power of psychedelics. Below is an edited transcript of his conversation with Flo Read:

Florence Read: Instead of turning on parts of the brain, psychedelics can do something quite unusual, which is actually turn some parts off. Could you just explain a little bit more about that?