A closer look at Oprah Daily’s in-depth reporting on these groundbreaking treatments.
Transformational changes in how we address our mental health could be just around the corner, thanks to mind-altering substances that are now being appreciated in brand-new ways.
This topic is an important one at Katie Couric Media, and we’ve covered issues like how magic mushrooms can potentially treat depression, including this moving personal story about how they helped a military veteran deal with PTSD. So when we saw that our friends at Oprah Daily were tackling therapeutic psychedelics with fascinating, in-depth reporting of their own, we had to know more.
As part of our weekly women’s health newsletter Body and Soul, (which you can subscribe to here — it’s free!), we chatted with Pilar Guzmán, Oprah Daily’s editorial director, about the most surprising things her team discovered, the history of how psychedelics got a bad reputation with the mainstream public, and how using these drugs differently could upend the way doctors treat conditions like eating disorders.
Katie Couric Media: Why was it important to Oprah Daily to report so deeply on therapeutic psychedelics?
Pilar Guzmán: Oprah, O the magazine, and its latest incarnation as Oprah Daily have historically been at the forefront of so many women’s health, mental health, and wellness movements. We tend to forget that Oprah was the first to bring topics like sexual abuse, incest, alcoholism (as a disease), and trauma out of the shadows and into the mainstream, both through the show and then the magazine — as well as healing modalities like mindfulness and meditation and concepts such as gratitude and journaling — at a time when most people dismissed them as woo-woo. We tackle these topics with a unique combination of storytelling and rigorous journalism, always rooted in science-backed learnings.
With our coverage of psychedelics, we set out to do a major statement piece heralding its coming to the mainstream. That meant diving in deep to present the promising science on PTSD, anorexia, depression, addiction, etc., and how it presents a profound paradigm shift in the treatment of mental health.
From all of the clinical trial evidence and personal storytelling we’ve collected and from our own reporting, we think psychedelic-assisted therapy is poised to revolutionize psychiatric treatment, first and foremost among those veterans suffering from PTSD — delays in FDA approval notwithstanding. We have all been reading about the transformational effects of these emerging protocols on so many people for whom traditional treatment hasn’t helped. We also know, based on the clinical trials currently being conducted at some of the most reputable research institutions in the world, that they will have much broader application on a wide range of mental illnesses and mood disorders.
In other words, we believe we are on the brink of a revolution in mental health care.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned while building this package?
While we had read widely about the benefits of psychedelic treatment for those with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and even addiction, we were surprised at how effective it’s been in treating a wide range of eating disorders. This speaks to the broader potential of this medicine and the common ground between so many different disorders. While PTSD and, say, anorexia obviously present differently, they have in common a certain perseverative thought loop, and people who suffer these conditions often can’t outreason it with logic. That’s why talk therapy and traditional anti-depressants/anti-anxiety meds don’t work for so many of these cases.
Just like you can’t talk a war veteran out of reacting to a backfiring car as though it’s combat, you can’t convince a person with anorexia that they aren’t overweight. In both cases, a storyline has been etched in the nervous system, which is impervious to reason. What drugs like psilocybin, when used in a therapeutic setting, allow the brain to do on a neurochemical level is interrupt those well-trodden obsessive thought loops. Author and journalist Michael Pollan likens the experience of psychedelics on your brain as “fresh tracks.” Meaning if your brain is like a ski run with well-worn moguls and troughs, psychedelics are like 15 inches of powder that allow you to reconsider those deep neurological grooves and make room for the possibility of new narratives about yourself.
What do you most hope readers take away from these stories?
The goal is to help orient the reader on this subject. As always, we’re committed to separating the hype from the promise, what we know and don’t know, how to navigate for those interested in trying these medicines, and the challenges and hope that lie ahead. Though there is no silver bullet for anything in life, these drugs are a ray of hope for some of the most stubborn of mental diseases and conditions. We can’t emphasize enough, however, just how important it is that we’re talking only about their use in a professionally guided psychotherapeutic setting.
What did this reporting teach you about the stigma of psychedelics in the U.S., and how might these therapeutic uses change that in the next few years?
Looking back on the history of psychedelics, you see how well underway the research was beginning in the 1950s. What’s so surprising is how quickly research was defunded in the 1970s. Sure, LSD had become politicized because of its association with the anti-war movement. But more broadly, it incited a moral panic as it made its way from laboratories and into wild and unbridled recreational use. So whatever benefits were seen in a therapeutic setting were eclipsed, understandably, by images of wayward teens tripping in Haight Ashbury. Science suffered greatly as a result of social and political upheaval of the era. With the criminalization of these drugs, funding was stripped virtually overnight, and research went underground.
Tell us about a few of your favorite pieces from the package and why they’re so worth reading.
The definitive piece, The State of Psychedelics, that Liz Brody did is such a rich
foundation for understanding the science and the stunning potential. In How I Finally Cracked My Lifelong Treatment-Resistant Depression, Angela Day takes us through her lifelong fight to treat her depression and anxiety. It’s as rich — and relatable — a narrative as I can imagine.
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The information provided on this site isn’t intended as medical advice, and shouldn’t replace professional medical treatment. Consult your doctor with any serious health concerns.
