Dr. Signi Goldman, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist and the Co-founder and Medical Director of Living Medicine Institute, which offers psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy training programs. As a certified provider for psychedelic-assisted therapy and research, she has practiced in various clinical settings, including hospital systems and alternative treatment settings. Dr. Goldman also serves as a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist for Concierge Medicine and Psychiatry’s Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Program for Mental Health.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [1:23] Why Dr. Signi Goldman pursues psychedelic-assisted therapy and research
- [3:10] The benefits of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
- [4:33] How Dr. Goldman integrates evidence-based practices into ketamine-assisted therapy
- [8:17] Dr. Goldman talks about her teaching series and certificate programs for ketamine-assisted therapy
- [14:40] What is a rite of passage guide?
- [20:24] Promising research in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
- [23:02] The role of psychedelic-assisted therapy in the future of psychiatry
In this episode…
Cutting-edge studies show that ketamine and other psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy modalities are effective in treating various mental health conditions. While this technique is promising, it lacks training programs to execute it effectively. If you’re interested in this space, how can you integrate psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy practices into your approach?
As an early adopter of ketamine-assisted therapy, Dr. Signi Goldman says this treatment can’t be used on its own; instead, it must be integrated into an established treatment program. She emphasizes using scientific evidence in your approach, monitoring and optimizing dosage ranges to prevent addiction risks. Providers must also engage in the treatment drug in controlled settings to provide authentic treatment, learn about the drug’s effects, and help the patient navigate their altered state.
In this episode of Living Medicine, Chad Franzen of Rise25 interviews Dr. Signi Goldman, the Co-founder and Medical Director of Living Medicine Institute, about the safe use of psychedelics in psychotherapy practices. She talks about her work as a rite of passage guide, her teaching and certification programs for psychedelic-assisted therapy, and the role of this modality in future psychiatric treatment plans.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Quotable Moments:
- “It really has become evident to the medical community that this kind of treatment actually works for some people that nothing else works for.”
- “I’ve been working along with my colleagues in our clinic doing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for many years now.”
- “It’s a tool in the toolbox for myself as a psychiatrist.”
- “The most important thing is that people who don’t respond to other treatments are responding to this.”
- “Psychedelic work is not the only thing people should do, or even necessarily the first thing.”
Action Steps:
- Seek comprehensive training if considering entering the field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: Proper training ensures the safety and effectiveness of treatment for patients experiencing profound psychological states.
- Understand the legal framework and adhere to evidence-based protocols: Legal compliance and scientific backing are fundamental safeguards for ethical practice and patient welfare.
- Experience altered states in a controlled, therapeutic setting as a practitioner: Personal experience fosters empathy and a nuanced understanding of the patient’s perspective during treatment.
- Prioritize ongoing education to stay updated with the latest research and practices: The field of psychedelic medicine is rapidly evolving, requiring continuous learning for competent and informed care.
- Embrace a balanced integration of indigenous wisdom and Western medicine: Blending historical and cultural perspectives enriches the therapeutic approach and honors the roots of psychedelic use.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by the Living Medicine Institute.
LMI is a training, resource, and membership program educating providers about the legal and safe use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
To learn more or participate, visit https://livingmedicineinstitute.com.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:00
Welcome to the Living Medicine podcast, where we talk about ethical medical use of psychedelic psychotherapy, teaching skills, examining the issues and interviewing interesting people. Now let’s start today’s show.
Dr. Signi Goldman 0:19
Hi, it’s Dr. Signi Goldman, your host for Living Medicine, where we interview clinical and medical professionals in the evolving ketamine and psychedelic assisted psychotherapy space. Recent interviews we’ve done are with Ron Siegel from Harvard, Dick Schwartz, the creator of internal family systems, and Michael and Annie Mithoefer, some of the most prominent psychedelic researchers and maps researchers. So we encourage you to check those episodes out. This episode is brought to you by Living Medicine Institute, a growing professional network for the psychedelic assisted psychotherapy community. For more information, you can go to livingmedicineinstitute.com I have Chad here from Rise25 who has done 1000s of interviews with successful entrepreneurs and CEOs, and we flipped the script, so he will be interviewing me. Chad, welcome to the show.
Chad Franzen 1:05
Hey, thanks so much, Signi. I appreciate you having me today. How are you
Dr. Signi Goldman 1:09
I’m doing well.
Chad Franzen 1:10
Good. Hey, I’m looking forward to finding out a little bit more about you and about Living Medicine Institute. Tell me what drew you to specialize in psychedelic assisted therapies and research.
Dr. Signi Goldman 1:23
Yes, it’s an unusual thing for psychiatrists to be doing, but there are a few of us that are sort of coming out of the myths or the woodwork as being mental health professionals who are also doing this kind of work. For a long time, there wasn’t really an open forum for people who are interested in working with induced altered states in mental health, but now it’s really become evident to the medical community, and to some degree, the public at large, that this kind of treatment actually works in mental health for some people that nothing else works for so you have this, what’s being called the psychedelic renaissance in medicine, and there’s a lot of debate over whether this is a good thing or bad thing. What does this mean? What is this even entail? You know, the research studies that have come out have been really promising, and so it’s growing in interest, and there’s a lot more people in my world, in the mental health treatment world, wanting to get trained in it. So I found myself at the forefront of this because I happen to have already been in it as a psychiatrist. And so it was, there was a natural progression for me to move into teaching and training in this about 10 years ago, because I was already doing psychedelic, assisted psychotherapy work relatively early on, as it slowly became more legal, and the first substance that became legal to be used was ketamine. And so I’ve been working along with my colleagues and in our clinic doing ketamine assisted psychotherapy for many years now, and started a training program a few years ago with my colleague Sandy Newes.
Chad Franzen 2:58
So what are the what are maybe some of the benefits of this type of treatment compared to, you know, traditional psychiatry that would that are good for patients who, you know, use psychedelic assisted therapy.
Dr. Signi Goldman 3:10
Well, the most important thing that’s getting the most attention is that people who don’t respond to other treatments are responding to this. So that’s where the excitement is coming in. In the field people with really bad PTSD or really severe treatment resistant depression who have had the other treatments that we have to offer in mental health. I’m a psychiatrist, so I’m, you know, available. I can offer all the psychotherapies and the medication treatments and all these there are people who don’t respond to those, and that’s always been one of the hardest things to deal with emotionally as a mental health provider. And so what happened when we moved into using altered states, which is what psychedelic psychotherapy is, is that a significant chunk of those people actually started getting better. So that includes PTSD, you know, trauma treatment, resistant depression, other anxiety disorders and addictions. So you can see that really covers a wide swath of of what we cover, what we treat in mental health. So it can, it’s, it’s quite exciting to see the potential for that, and that’s reflected in our clinic. We actually do have people quite often coming through who haven’t done well with their prior treatments, and who really respond to this. So that’s what we’re seeing, and it’s matching what’s in the literature as well.
Chad Franzen 4:25
So you’ve, you know, you’ve done traditional psychiatry. How does your background in that kind of inform your approach to ketamine assisted psychotherapy?
Dr. Signi Goldman 4:33
Well, one of the things that it has, the, one of the big influences has been it’s had, I should say, is that I’m trained very rigorously in what’s called Evidence Based Practice, and because I am a mainstream Western medical provider, I have been taught, and I believe correctly, to practice under what is called Evidence Based frameworks, and that means that I don’t offer treatments to my clients unless there’s some science. Supporting it and showing that it’s both safe, which is important and effective. So I wasn’t doing psychedelic assisted psychotherapy 20 years ago, for example, but I am doing it more now, because the evidence base is progressing along with my career as a psychiatrist. So we have had really robust and good science starting to come out that these about these medicines, both their safety and their efficacy, and as that’s coming out, and as we are legally able to we’ve been tracking that so it this sort of respect for science based treatment really comes out of my my medical training, and then also understanding the importance of doing full psychiatric evaluations on people. This isn’t something you just to be you know colloquially about it. You don’t just throw it everyone into this treatment. It’s really important that you vet the clients that are appropriate for this, that you make sure that they’ve had the other appropriate treatments as a psychiatrist that are out there, and that you know that you’ve psychiatrically evaluated them correctly and ruled out risk factors. So my psychiatry background comes into this completely in almost every way. So I think of psychedelic work as not the only thing people should do, or even necessarily the first thing. It’s a tool in the toolbox of myself as a psychiatrist and even in my own clinic. I’m not using this with everyone. I’m using it with people who either are a particular fit for it, or people who have not responded to anything else. And when I am using it, I’m using it in a evidence based which is a way of saying science supported way.
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