|
In Episode 047 of A Medical Mind: Wisdom and Well Being I bring back one of my previous guests, visionary integrative psychiatrist Dr. Will Van Derveer MD.
Back in Episode 19 of the show, Will gave us a great glimpse into his foundational approach to medicine and integrative psychiatry. In this episode, we jump in right where we left off into an exploration of Will’s innovative research and clinical expertise utilizing psychedelics alongside psychotherapy to combat severe PTSD and treatment resistant depression. Will leads us through an introduction offering an insightful rationale for using psychedelics in supportive psychotherapy. Applying our emerging understanding of brain connectivity and the activity of the Default Mode Network, Will explains why this baseline “mind wandering” state of thinking is perhaps one of the greatest reasons for cognitive distortions leading to rumination, depression, obsessions and general maladaptive thinking patterns. From this understanding of the importance of the DFN to our resilience and cognitive flexibility, Will explains the role of meditation and psychedelics to alter the activity of the DFN. Getting more specific, Will then introduces the two psychedelic drugs emerging as effective augmenting treatments with psychotherapy: MDMA and Ketamine. 
Will explains how his clinic and clinicians and general are using MDMA and integrative psychotherapy session to help individuals with severe PTSD breakthrough debilitating states of fear and hypervigilance to discover self compassion, forgiveness and paths to healing.
Expanding from here, Will also provides insights into the drug ketamine and how it is emerging through rigorous clinical trials to be off significant benefit to those undergoing psychotherapy for chronic treatment depression. While the drugs are extremely distinct in structure and proposed mechanism of action, together they represent a new paradigm of psychiatric care that for perhaps for the first time can actually involve the word CURE. We end the conversation with perhaps the most important and meaningful exploration I have had to date. Getting a little controversial, Will and I share our concern with our societal search for the quick fix, whether it be in the form of a pill, diet or green medicine. Sharing vulnerable insights from our own journeys integrating traumatic experiences and doing the “deep work,” we open up about the reality that we cannot expect to heal wounds overnight that took years to form in the first place. From a place of hopeful curiosity, we urge everyone, clinician or layperson to recognize the deep need to engage in the process of iterative self exploration, extending compassion and forgiveness to all along the way. To explore Dr. VDV’s Integrative Psychiatry Training starting in October: ipi.higherpractice.com Visit Dr VDV’s main page at www.ketaminetherapyboulder.com To learn more about MAPS and psychedelic studies visit maps.org 
0 Comments
In episode 046 of A Medicinal Mind: Wisdom and Well Being , I welcome TWO guests, and new close friends. Dr. Tommy Wood and Christopher Kelly of Nourish Balance Thrive. Between the two of them, Tommy and Chris have been helping burned out athletes achieve both optimal performance and wellness through a combination of targeted testing, nutritional approaches and selective augmentation. The two have helped thousands of athletes and are constantly providing nourishing content, no pun intended to thousands more via their NBT podcast. Additionally Tommy puts out an incredible weekly review: a “Highlights” emails that will leave you with more to chew on that just your thumbs.
In this episode we start the conversation exploring the origin stories of Chris and Tommy, finding their way into the ancestral health space. They both offer descriptions of the paths that lead them to their current work in addition to more specific details regarding the nature of the education and scholastic background. When then explore the birth of Nourish Balance Thrive and discuss in depth the vision, passion and ethos behind this unique and innovative initiative. Chris offers a personal look into his own leap of faith starting the business, followed by the quick collaboration with bright and curious minds like Tommy. 
We then get into the meat of the discussion, the newest technological feat between the two and their partner in crime naturopathic physician and biochemistry extraordinaire: Dr. Bryan Walsh. Chris and Tommy describe their blood chemistry calculator, a tool utilizing machine learning and incorporating data from thousands of athletes, that can actually predict nutritional status, blood sugar regulation, and even potentially xenobiotic exposure from just a handful of laboratory tests. While still early in its implementation, this calculator has the ability to transform medical care and functional medicine testing, and you will here from them both how they see it being optimally used and explored.
Combining perspectives for both clinicians and the lay audience, Tommy offers some great reasons, why machine learning and this calculator should be on your radar. We then end the podcast with Tommy sharing a little of his background leading the innovative group: Physicians for Ancestral Health, an organization of which I am proudly affiliated. Tommy shares some of the vision and initiatives of the group and how he hopes to expand its reach in the months and years to come. I still cannot fully believe I was able to share this conversation with Tommy and Chris, having listened to the two over many years during my own incubation and exploration of ancestral and functional health. I am extremely excited to share this conversation with you all and please be sure to explore the podcast show notes with links to their page, podcast and their Blood Chemistry Calculator. And with that, let’s dig into the show! Check out Tommy and Chris' homepage: http://www.nourishbalancethrive.com Blood Chemistry Calculator: https://bloodcalculator.com Physicians for Ancestral Health: http://ancestraldoctors.org 
|
PodcastExplore our conversations, delving into the depths of the authentic human experience. Archives
October 2019
Categories |
RSS Feed