“Depression is a disorder of the spirit, if you will—the brain but also the whole body. And that’s one of the reasons why it’s one of the most disabling conditions that we have in the world.”
— Dr. John Krystal
Dr. John Krystal is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Professor of Translational Research; Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Psychology; Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University; and Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Dr. Krystal is a leading expert in the areas of alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. His work links psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience to study the neurobiology and treatment of these disorders. He is best known for leading the discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in depressed patients.
He directs/co-directs the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (CTSA), NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism, and Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD (VA).
Dr. Krystal is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine; co-director of the Neuroscience Forum of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); and editor of Biological Psychiatry, one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience.
He is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of Freedom Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology platform developing next-generation ketamine and psychedelic therapeutics that recently emerged from stealth in August 2022.
ONE VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on the Internet. None of the content in this podcast constitutes medical advice or should be construed as a recommendation to use ketamine or psychedelics. There are psychological, physical, and sometimes legal risks with such usage. Please consult your doctor before considering anything we discuss in this episode.
Please enjoy!
The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
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Want to hear another podcast episode with someone who’s exploring the beneficial properties of mind-altering compounds? Listen to my conversation with Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy in which we discuss how ketamine differs from other psychedelics, the durability of antidepressant effects, obstacles to getting ketamine labeled as an antidepressant, avoiding another 50 years of psychedelic research darkness, where aspiring psychedelic researchers should focus their education, and much more.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
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