## Metadata author:: [[@Huberman Lab]] publish_date:: reviewed_date:: ```dataview TABLE notes FROM "" where file.name = "% 2023-02-23 Dr. Matthew Johnson Psychedelic Medicine Episode 38" ``` ## Highlights - Speaker 0: Welcome to the [(Time 0:00:00)](https://www.airr.io/quote/63f52ccdd9bdc7e23faacc5a) - Speaker 0: is habituation, simply keep applying stimuli and there's less response. Like this is what organisms do. This is what we have to do. And it's like there's this dis habituation component that like this habituation. Yes. Like we wouldn't be able to get through life if we wouldn't be able to cross that street. If we were like, whole like, this is a miracle. Like, no, Speaker 1: I'm so glad you brought this up here. I'm reflecting my bias as a vision scientist. But most people don't realize this. But if you look at something long enough it eventually disappears. It doesn't actually disappear, but perceptually it disappears. You have these little micro cicadas that ensure that it doesn't, but most of us don't look at any one thing for very long, the brain's default is to perceptually jump around like crazy with the visual system with the auditory system, [(Time 0:41:02)](https://www.airr.io/quote/63f65df1d9bdc7e23fcec047) - notes:: Which is an interesting point when you consider the practice of Zen meditation, and focusing on a single point, constantly realign your thoughts to it - Speaker 1: or even cruel thing for people who are depressed or anxious to hear because if they hear that and believe that and I want to be clear, I don't think it's true that they think that it's very hard to control thoughts is very hard to control thoughts. So somebody um says, you know, I can't and then somebody says, well now every time you say you can't your brain hears that and it reinforces it, that's a very treacherous place to live. Um and language is powerful. But neural networks, the brain and the networks that underlie emotionality and perception and sense of self. They don't change in response to language, they change in response to experience. And it just fundamentally you need there are some prerequisites. You need [(Time 0:57:18)](https://www.airr.io/quote/63f67b97d9bdc7e23fd20224) - notes:: Brains do not change structure due to language they change due to experience the positive verbal affirmations are not going to cut it - Speaker 0: in his city, Speaker 1: maybe we could set the record straight for people. What what was this? Why would he say bath salts? And was it bath Speaker 0: salts? It wasn't. And so the only thing in his talks was cannabis, which we all know. Typically people don't eat people's faces off after they get hungry, but not that right. Right. So it's just an example of the xenophobia like today if you get on google images and look up bath salts. One of the most comment images you'll see is this poor guy's face being needing off. So we're just so ready to latch on. Just like the people of another culture that we don't know about. It's very easy to assign attribution to a class that you're very unfamiliar with. So I think they the psychedelics got [(Time 1:09:01)](https://www.airr.io/quote/63f67ca1d9bdc7e23fd220a1) - notes:: With psychedelics, there is no well-founded evidence or support for compounds being stored in body, fat and released later, or the concept of flashbacks, it’s phenomenon is likely attributed to hallucinogenic perception persistence disorder, or HPPD - Speaker 1: like car mechanics or something or about or scratching. So there are certain sounds will do this whispering, tapping, finger tapping and people experience immense pleasure from it. It's not really sexual pleasure but it's this kind of deep core of the body that it's the autonomic nervous system down Speaker 0: the probably what a certain number of people Speaker 1: would call kundalini Speaker 0: which is scientifically. Yeah that's right. People Speaker 1: who do long duration kundalini breathing sessions. Many of them will report later feeling as if they their perception of self is outside of their head Speaker 0: that their rut Speaker 1: that they're literally walk. It's very uncomfortable for them that they feel like they're walking around with their sense of self extended beyond the body. And this is a this is a clinically described neurologic for Speaker 0: not have any [(Time 1:14:18)](https://www.airr.io/quote/63f6805fd9bdc7e23fd2850b) - notes:: Kundalini yoga, experience of sense of self outside the body reminds me of personal experience with neurodivergence and disassociation - Speaker 1: Um, as study section members, you didn't have to do that Now. It's a, it's an important biological variable. If you don't look at that, you essentially won't get your funding Speaker 0: and age is a similar thing. So it's the whole idea like man, if something could help kids, like what's the rationale? So I think there's gonna be now obviously you're going to have in those studies at least just as much, probably more, it should be more, you know, of a caution, cautionary approach. It's probably gonna be, you know, it would certainly whatever disease states are like they are going to have to be probably treatment resistant at least as a first step. Hey, kids tried. Yeah, yeah. And and so all of that in the mix. But hey, You know, if this stuff really helps people, you know, that are 25 or 30, like what's [(Time 2:01:09)](https://www.airr.io/quote/63f6bfa6d9bdc7e23fda372e)