Webinar December 7th 2023 | Charles S. Grob – Psychedelics for Human Suffering: A New Paradigm for the 21st Century?

Clinical research on psychedelics has come a long way from its origins in the middle of the 20th century. One of the key figures in the current revival of psychedelic research is psychiatrist Charles S. Grob who has, since the 1990s, conducted important research on ayahuasca and psilocybin, amongst others. On Thursday December 7th, 6PM (UTC+2), dr. Grob will talk about the history of psychedelic research and the present and future implications of his own research projects – both for future projects and the practice of psychiatry and medicine.

The talk will review the history, ethnobotany, pharmacology and clinical research record of psychedelic drugs in human subjects. Prior investigations during the 1950s and 1960s will be examined as will the socio-cultural reactions that led to their termination by the early 1970s. An overview of the reemergence of psychedelic research in the modern era will be conducted, with particular emphasis on examining recent research using a psilocybin treatment model in the treatment of human subjects with advanced-stage medical illness approaching the end-of-life who are suffering from severe existential distress and demoralization. 

The implications of this body of investigation will be addressed with an emphasis on the necessity to safeguard optimal safety and ethical conduct. Particular attention will be given to the rationale, methodology and development of a new multi-site research project designed to explore the utility of psychedelic treatment at the end-of-life in the palliative care setting. 

The event contains a Q&A section. The total length is 2 hours. 

Tickets are available from our web store. For members of the association who’ve paid their membership fee for 2023, the event is free of charge. If you want to pay your membership fee for this year or become a member, you’ll find our membership products on the main page of our web store. An email with a link for free registration to the event has been sent to members of the association. If you’re not sure if you’ve paid for your membership this year, feel free to ask us.

Charles S. Grob, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He previously held faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of California at Irvine. He has conducted approved clinical research with psychedelics since the early 1990s. From 2004-2008 he was the Principal Investigator of the first study in several decades to examine the use of a psilocybin treatment model for patients with advanced-cancer anxiety. He has also conducted research into the range of effects of MDMA, in both normal volunteers and in a selected subject population of adult autistics with severe social anxiety. And, he has conducted a series of ayahuasca research studies in Brazil. 

Over the last thirty years Dr. Grob has published numerous articles and chapters on psychedelics in the medical and psychiatric literatures and he is the editor of Hallucinogens: A Reader (Putnam/Tarcher, 2002), co-editor (with Roger Walsh) of Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics (SUNY Press, 2005) and co-editor (with James Grigsby) of the recently published Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens (Guilford Press, 2021). He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute.