Thurs, Mar 2
7 - 8PM
$10 General Public
FREE for Fountain House and MDSG members
Join Fountain House Gallery and the Mood Disorders Group for a panel on mental health and psychedelic treatment.
In recent years there has been enormous excitement about psychedelic drugs, whether classical psychedelics like psilocybin or atypical ones like MDMA. Second-wave studies have provided evidence for rapid relief of severe depression and other conditions, and media hype has vastly raised expectations. Research is now underway to rigorously test these drugs in order to clarify their actual risks and benefits.
More information can be found here: https://mdsg.org/three-key-questions-for-the-psychedelic-renaissance/
About Dr. David J. Hellerstein, MD
Dr. Hellerstein is a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in NYC, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He specializes in research and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, particularly the medication treatment of chronic depression. One of his current studies includes the use of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression, his fascinating topic for tonight.
Dr. Hellerstein is Director of the Depression Evaluation Service, which conducts studies on the medication and psychotherapy treatment of conditions including major depression, chronic depression, and bipolar disorder.
He has published over 150 scientific articles and book chapters on subjects including the treatment of persistent depressive disorder, bipolar depression, supportive psychotherapy, behavioral activation therapy, neuroimaging, and the humanities and medicine, particularly ‘narrative medicine.’ His research has been published in JAMA Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other top journals.
Dr. Hellerstein has also received national recognition for his literary writing, and has published works of nonfiction and fiction. His journalism has been published in magazines including Harper’s and The New York Times Magazine. He writes a blog about applying neuroscience principals to psychiatric treatment for Psychology Today. His 2011 book, Heal Your Brain: How the New Neuropsychiatry Can Help You Go From Better to Well was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. His new book, The Couch, the Clinic, and The Scanner, published in 2023 by Columbia University Press, tells the story of psychiatry from the psychoanalytic era, to the DSM diagnostic era, to the neuroscience era, ending with the disruptions of the new psychedelic renaissance. A Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, he has served as President of the New York County District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Hellerstein also has a flourishing private practice.
About the Mood Disorders Support Group