Join a workshop and explore neuroscientific links and clinical considerations between psychotic illness, antipsychotics, and psychedelics!

Workshop Description

Psychedelics are largely considered contraindicated in persons predisposed to psychotic conditions due to the potential to worsen or cause psychosis. When psychedelics were first discovered by the West, they were dubbed ‘psychotomimetics’ due to mimicking a psychotic state to an observer or ‘hallucinogens’ meaning to generate hallucination. While we’ve largely moved away from viewing psychedelics as (solely) inducing psychosis, there are elements of psychedelic experience and neuroscience that share overlap with psychosis, suggesting a link between the two.

Psychosis and psychotic conditions are often treated with antipsychotics. These medications commonly target dopamine and/or serotonin receptors, which are mechanisms that could oppose or modulate effects or risks of psychedelics. For decades, these medications were primarily limited to management of psychotic or bipolar conditions, although are increasingly common to be prescribed in lower doses as adjuncts for depression, anxiety, insomnia, or other refractory conditions that do not respond to typical treatments.

Due to antipsychotics often being prescribed for contraindicated, severe, or refractory conditions, current or historical antipsychotic use may help identify persons at higher risk of poor outcomes from psychedelic use. If the individual is still an appropriate candidate for psychedelic use, antipsychotics could lead to counterproductive or toxic drug interactions in combination with psychedelics. Tapering antipsychotics may need to be done slowly to avoid destabilizing withdrawal symptoms. Persons taking antipsychotics as adjunctive treatments may also need to taper other medications to safely or successfully use psychedelics, adding to challenges of preparation for psychedelic therapy.

In sum, there’s an interesting history, neuropharmacologic overlap, and complex clinical decision-making process surrounding psychosis, antipsychotics, and psychedelics. I wanted to address these topics formally in this webinar workshop. Officially, the workshop objectives are to:

• Describe schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions
• Discuss heritability of schizophrenia and use of family history of psychotic conditions as an exclusion criterion for psychedelic experience
• Define antipsychotic mechanisms of action and summarize their interaction potential with commonly used psychedelics
• Discuss approaches to antipsychotic tapering in preparation for psychedelic experience

Webinar Logistics and Offer Details:

• Registration includes access to a copy of the video recording, as well as downloadable PDF slides
• Workshop consists of a 90 min lecture and 30 min Q&A session

This webinar is for information and educational purposes only. It is not meant to condone or encourage the use of illicit substances. The information presented is not medical advice and should not be taken as such. It is recommended you follow laws applicable to your jurisdiction.