Psychedelic Therapy: Complex Presentations and Psychotherapeutic Mechanisms of Change
Dr. Richard Zeifman
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer
NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Columbia University
Date: Friday, June 7, 2024
Time: 1–2 p.m. EDT
Host: Dr. Venkat Bhat
Location: In-person and virtual
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Auditorium, and via Zoom
Refreshments will be served.
Lecture Takeaways
The main takeaways are as follows:
- Early studies indicate that psychedelic therapy shows potential as an intervention for a range of mental health concerns.
- There are important limitations surrounding psychedelic therapy research, including questions surrounding their safety and efficacy for complex presentations.
- Psychedelic therapy’s mechanisms of change show strong overlap with mechanisms underlying traditional psychotherapeutic interventions, suggesting the potential for synergistic effects.
Biography
Richard Zeifman is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellow at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and a lecturer at Columbia University. He completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University and his clinical psychology internship at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Dr. Zeifman’s research focuses on enhancing interventions for the treatment of trauma-related sequelae (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts and behaviours) by 1) using a multi-method approach to elucidate the psychological mechanisms underpinning trauma-related sequelae and their treatment, and 2) testing the safety and efficacy of integrating psychotherapies with novel pharmacological agents (e.g., psilocybin and MDMA). He is currently a co-investigator on several clinical trials, including a multi-site randomized controlled trial examining psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for cancer-related anxiety. He is also a study therapist on trials examining MDMA-facilitated cognitive processing therapy and cognitive-behavioural conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for cancer-related anxiety.
No sign-up is required. For more information, contact the iBEST coordinator at ibest@torontomu.ca.
