There is little doubt that one of the biggest impacts of COVID19 will be to our society’s mental health, and sadly there is no shortage of statistics to support this. For every 1% hike in the unemployment rate, there has been a 3.3% increase in drug overdose deaths and a .99% increase in suicides. 60% of human illness and disease are based on stress, and 60 percent of U.S. adults are feeling daily stress and worry, a new Gallup poll shows. A recent study indicated that addiction in rats increases 19 times when in isolation.

I battled depression and anxiety for more than 30 years and one day, after I hit yet another rock bottom, I decided that there just had to be another way to manage my mental health than with medicine and what seemed like inconsistent and ineffective talk therapy. I stumbled upon Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind and from that book, discovered the rabbit hole known as psychedelics. Over the next 14 months, I read, watched and listened to every article, research paper, video interview and talk I could find on psychedelics as I wanted to better understand if this medicine could help me.

My journey concluded in March of 2020 when, after a successful MDMA session, I was able to identify and release a long-hidden, deeply buried, and painful trauma that explained virtually everyone one of my behavioral health challenges. Today, I consider my depression and anxiety in remission and have refocused my efforts on condensing the 14+ month journey I underwent to better understand the psychedelic treatments available into an easier to navigate resource for those who are curious to learn more.

Join me, Samantha Raddochia and Wyly Gray as we talk about how we found relief from our suffering with psychedelics. For me, it was MDMA and depression, for Sam, it was psilocybin and LSD for her anxiety and for Wyly, a combat veteran, it was ayahuasca for his PTSD. 

The goal of this podcast is  to provide a starting point for the psychedelic-curious as I believe everyone deserves to find their own mental health balance, and the more knowledge one has, the more empowered they are. 

For more information on other webinars and resources, please visit https://www.balancedtrail.com.