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On October 29, 2021, we held our International Mental Health Research Virtual Symposium.

Lynnette Averill, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine, Yale University, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, studies the causes and consequences of trauma-related psychopathology and suicidality, and is investigating novel rapid-acting interventions. She explains her special interest in the role that ketamine and psychedelics (including psilocybin and MDMA) could play treating veterans and others with severe PTSD who are at high risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

A Q&A with Dr. Kimberly Carpenter of Duke University, who has conducted important research on preschoolers with overly sensitive senses—children who are intensely bothered by stimuli such as loud or high-pitched sounds, or the sensation of clothing rubbing on the skin. Her research has shown that these children are at greater risk for developing an anxiety disorder by school age. She also discusses sensory oversensitivity and autism spectrum disorder.

In-depth discussion summarizing some of the most important findings to date about the possibility of using psychedelic compounds to treat individuals with psychiatric illness. We feature comments from experts in the field (several of them members of BBRF’s Scientific Council), who have been generally supportive, but careful, stressing what is known and what remains unknown about psychedelic-assisted psychiatric treatments. They have raised important questions about who should and should not be considered a candidate for such therapy and about the optimal conditions in which psychedelics should be administered.