0:00:01.277,0:00:03.950
At various points over the past 20 years,

0:00:03.974,0:00:07.745
I've studied two fundamental[br]human experiences

0:00:07.769,0:00:10.031
that have taught me[br]an awful lot about emotion

0:00:10.055,0:00:13.951
and that may hold the keys[br]to a revolution in psychiatry.

0:00:13.975,0:00:16.026
The first is how we experience music.

0:00:16.345,0:00:19.256
The second is how we experience[br]psychedelic drugs

0:00:19.280,0:00:21.985
such as LSD and magic mushrooms,

0:00:22.009,0:00:23.241
or psilocybin,

0:00:23.265,0:00:25.578
which is the active component[br]in magic mushrooms.

0:00:26.086,0:00:29.835
You may be wondering what these two things[br]have in common outside of Woodstock.

0:00:29.859,0:00:33.685
After all, music is not[br]a physical substance.

0:00:33.709,0:00:37.177
It can be described as a limited set[br]of vibrations in the air

0:00:37.201,0:00:38.858
that can be detected by your ear.

0:00:39.318,0:00:42.671
And music may seem to have more to do[br]with aesthetics than with biology

0:00:42.695,0:00:43.913
or chemistry.

0:00:44.401,0:00:47.317
Psychedelic drugs, on the other hand,[br]are physical substances.

0:00:47.341,0:00:49.667
They are chemical compounds[br]that you can ingest

0:00:49.691,0:00:52.196
that directly interact[br]with brain chemistry

0:00:52.220,0:00:54.145
and change your experience of the world.

0:00:54.752,0:00:56.921
This change is temporary,

0:00:56.945,0:01:00.011
but the effects of this change[br]can alter the course of your life.

0:01:00.562,0:01:01.712
But let's face it:

0:01:01.736,0:01:03.253
psychedelics have the potential

0:01:03.277,0:01:06.293
to trigger unexpected[br]and potentially dangerous effects.

0:01:06.317,0:01:09.693
So what could these two very different[br]things possibly have in common?

0:01:11.398,0:01:15.557
I've found that music and psychedelics[br]can impact our well-being

0:01:15.581,0:01:17.940
in powerful and complementary ways.

0:01:18.707,0:01:21.181
Music can have a direct[br]impact on our emotions,

0:01:21.205,0:01:23.129
with measurable impacts in the brain;

0:01:23.153,0:01:26.060
psychedelic drugs,[br]under the right circumstances,

0:01:26.084,0:01:28.042
may have therapeutic effects.

0:01:28.066,0:01:30.437
These effects can be manifest in patterns

0:01:30.461,0:01:33.259
that we can study[br]and document with brain scans.

0:01:33.770,0:01:36.723
And together, and leveraged[br]in a purposeful fashion,

0:01:36.747,0:01:39.687
music and psychedelics may have[br]an even greater healing impact

0:01:39.711,0:01:40.949
on patients.

0:01:40.973,0:01:45.363
What's more, these effects can be manifest[br]in healthier and happier lives

0:01:45.387,0:01:47.228
and more integrated personalities.

0:01:47.989,0:01:50.752
I began my journey into the mental[br]health benefits of music

0:01:50.776,0:01:53.264
long before I ever intended[br]to make such a journey.

0:01:53.804,0:01:56.193
For roughly half of my life,[br]I've been a musician,

0:01:56.217,0:01:58.069
having played in community orchestras,

0:01:58.093,0:01:59.679
community theaters,

0:01:59.703,0:02:01.535
wedding bands, a salsa-merengue band.

0:02:01.559,0:02:05.968
I was a member of a string band[br]in Philadelphia for many years.

0:02:05.992,0:02:08.353
And for the better part[br]of my formative years,

0:02:08.377,0:02:11.605
I was the drummer[br]in a Weezer-Nirvana cover band

0:02:11.629,0:02:13.739
that morphed into a hardcore punk band.

0:02:13.763,0:02:14.971
(Laughter)

0:02:14.995,0:02:16.146
That's right.

0:02:16.170,0:02:17.519
Drummer in a punk band.

0:02:17.543,0:02:22.091
But it wasn't until I really began[br]my career in psychology and neuroscience

0:02:22.115,0:02:27.495
that I began to also appreciate[br]how widely and how deeply we as a species,

0:02:27.519,0:02:29.906
both implicitly and explicitly,

0:02:29.930,0:02:32.829
use music as a tool to try[br]to regulate our emotions

0:02:32.853,0:02:34.316
and to heal.

0:02:34.340,0:02:36.860
And for some of us, music keeps us going.

0:02:36.884,0:02:39.186
For others, music isn't quite enough.

0:02:39.843,0:02:42.110
For me, this led to some[br]fascinating questions.

0:02:42.134,0:02:45.537
I began to use music as a tool[br]to study emotion and memory in the brain.

0:02:45.939,0:02:49.511
My first scientific study was focused[br]on music-evoked nostalgia.

0:02:49.535,0:02:52.436
Nostalgia's a rich and bittersweet emotion

0:02:52.460,0:02:55.384
that is intimately tied up[br]with our autobiographical memories.

0:02:55.974,0:02:59.512
We can often encounter nostalgia[br]in unexpected places.

0:02:59.536,0:03:02.736
You may have had the experience[br]of driving down the highway,

0:03:02.760,0:03:03.926
turning on the radio

0:03:03.950,0:03:06.672
or firing up your favorite music[br]recommendation service,

0:03:06.696,0:03:09.038
and you hear a song[br]you haven't heard in ages,

0:03:09.062,0:03:11.307
and you get immediately[br]transported back in time

0:03:11.331,0:03:13.808
and dumped into this immersive memory --

0:03:13.832,0:03:15.833
something you haven't[br]thought about in ages

0:03:15.857,0:03:17.474
but was very meaningful to you --

0:03:17.498,0:03:19.261
maybe wedding day or senior prom

0:03:19.285,0:03:20.810
or the birth of your first child

0:03:20.834,0:03:22.349
or the death of a loved one.

0:03:22.681,0:03:25.600
Music can serve as a powerful context cue

0:03:25.624,0:03:31.102
for deeply meaningful and intensely vivid[br]nostalgic memories such as these.

0:03:32.192,0:03:35.826
Nostalgia, in a sense,[br]is deeply woven into our sense of self.

0:03:37.148,0:03:39.280
Who are we at our most authentic selves?

0:03:39.304,0:03:41.448
By connecting us[br]with our emotional histories,

0:03:41.472,0:03:44.528
nostalgia can help us[br]to stave off sadness, loneliness,

0:03:44.552,0:03:45.948
existential threat

0:03:45.972,0:03:47.450
and even the imminence of death

0:03:47.474,0:03:49.868
and the approaching horizon[br]of our lives as we age.

0:03:51.090,0:03:54.960
To try to get a better understanding[br]of how music may tap into nostalgia

0:03:54.984,0:03:57.333
and what that may be doing in the brain,

0:03:57.357,0:04:00.844
I began to work with computational[br]models of music cognition.

0:04:00.868,0:04:04.043
I applied these models[br]to interrogate brain activity

0:04:04.067,0:04:07.019
that was recorded[br]while people were listening

0:04:07.043,0:04:10.753
to nostalgia-evoking[br]and nonnostalgia-evoking music.

0:04:10.777,0:04:13.818
And importantly,[br]at least to a brain geek like me,

0:04:13.842,0:04:17.516
I found that nostalgia was able[br]to recruit a wide network of brain regions

0:04:17.540,0:04:20.706
involved in multiple levels[br]of different cognitive processes.

0:04:20.730,0:04:24.111
Whereas nonnostalgic music[br]could recruit brain regions

0:04:24.135,0:04:25.413
such as Heschl's gyrus,

0:04:25.437,0:04:27.633
involved in basic auditory processing,

0:04:27.657,0:04:28.976
or Broca's area,

0:04:29.000,0:04:31.388
which is involved in processing[br]grammar and syntax

0:04:31.412,0:04:33.762
not only in language but also in music,

0:04:33.786,0:04:36.665
nostalgia was able to recruit[br]these brain regions and more.

0:04:36.689,0:04:40.217
Brain regions such as the substantia nigra[br]involved in reward processing

0:04:40.241,0:04:43.607
or the anterior insula involved[br]in the visceral experience of emotion

0:04:43.631,0:04:46.605
or brain regions[br]in the inferior frontal gyrus

0:04:46.629,0:04:48.943
that are involved[br]in autobiographical memories.

0:04:48.967,0:04:52.063
Nostalgia was also able to recruit[br]a wide network of brain regions

0:04:52.087,0:04:55.499
in prefrontal, frontal, cingulate,[br]insular, parietal, occipital

0:04:55.523,0:04:57.025
and subcortical brain regions

0:04:57.049,0:04:59.507
that span nearly all[br]of our cognitive faculties.

0:04:59.531,0:05:03.145
This may explain why nostalgia[br]can have such an outsized impact on us.

0:05:03.523,0:05:05.389
But as powerful as it is in the moment,

0:05:05.413,0:05:08.547
the salve of music-evoked[br]nostalgia eventually fades.

0:05:09.204,0:05:11.657
Nostalgia may be more of a Band-Aid,

0:05:11.681,0:05:13.197
less of an antibiotic

0:05:13.221,0:05:16.728
and typically far from a surgical[br]intervention for our emotional health.

0:05:17.731,0:05:19.642
Music can draw out nostalgia

0:05:19.666,0:05:21.810
and music and nostalgia[br]can move our feelings,

0:05:21.834,0:05:23.788
but how do we make these feelings stick?

0:05:24.608,0:05:26.331
After studying the nostalgic brain,

0:05:26.355,0:05:28.455
I joined a team[br]at Johns Hopkins University

0:05:28.479,0:05:30.947
that was studying the effects[br]of psychedelic drugs,

0:05:30.971,0:05:34.708
and I quickly began to learn how deeply[br]a piece of music could impact a person

0:05:34.732,0:05:36.279
during a psychedelic experience.

0:05:36.303,0:05:39.383
I was previously vexed by the difficulty[br]in predicting precisely

0:05:39.407,0:05:42.381
what musical stimulus would evoke[br]precisely what response

0:05:42.405,0:05:43.783
within a given individual.

0:05:43.807,0:05:47.618
A song that evokes nostalgia in one person[br]could just as easily evoke disinterest

0:05:47.642,0:05:49.061
or disgust in another person.

0:05:49.085,0:05:54.211
I began to learn how deeply most music[br]seemed to impact most people

0:05:54.235,0:05:55.934
during psychedelic experiences.

0:05:56.547,0:05:58.365
Since at least the late '50s,

0:05:58.389,0:06:00.500
the value of using music to help people

0:06:00.524,0:06:03.288
to navigate psychedelic[br]experiences was clear.

0:06:03.312,0:06:05.882
We continue this tradition[br]in our modern research,

0:06:05.906,0:06:08.106
asking volunteers to listen to music

0:06:08.130,0:06:10.630
during the course[br]of a psychedelic therapy session,

0:06:10.654,0:06:14.608
and despite most people being[br]mostly naive to the music that we play

0:06:14.632,0:06:16.692
before they get into the sessions,

0:06:16.716,0:06:17.882
after these sessions,

0:06:17.906,0:06:20.550
our volunteers practically[br]beg us for the playlists.

0:06:20.574,0:06:23.723
And some of them report[br]returning to the songs

0:06:23.747,0:06:26.939
that were most impactful to them[br]during their psychedelic experience

0:06:26.963,0:06:29.623
weeks, months and even many years[br]after the experience.

0:06:29.647,0:06:34.378
Somehow, these songs[br]can turn into touchstones

0:06:34.402,0:06:39.780
that can rekindle the most powerful[br]and impactful and insightful experiences

0:06:39.804,0:06:42.669
that people encountered[br]during their psychedelic sessions.

0:06:43.643,0:06:45.945
Of course, I had to know[br]what was going on here.

0:06:45.969,0:06:48.209
I began to deploy[br]my batteries of questionnaires

0:06:48.233,0:06:49.949
and my carefully crafted experiments

0:06:49.973,0:06:51.445
and my big, fancy MRI machines

0:06:51.469,0:06:54.228
to try to determine[br]just what could be happening

0:06:54.252,0:06:55.546
during these experiences

0:06:55.570,0:07:00.495
that could explain the depth[br]of impact that people were encountering.

0:07:01.207,0:07:02.720
At a basic psychological level,

0:07:02.744,0:07:04.470
my colleagues and I determined that,

0:07:04.494,0:07:07.175
for instance, LSD can increase[br]positive emotions

0:07:07.199,0:07:09.677
that are uniquely encountered[br]during music listening.

0:07:09.701,0:07:13.527
This may have relevance just by itself[br]for healthy individuals

0:07:13.551,0:07:16.761
as well as people suffering from mood[br]and substance-use disorders.

0:07:16.785,0:07:18.583
But what was happening in the brain?

0:07:20.044,0:07:23.917
Earlier we learned that the entire brain[br]listens to nostalgic music.

0:07:24.859,0:07:27.951
When applying computational models[br]of music cognition

0:07:27.975,0:07:31.846
to interrogate brain activity[br]that was recorded during music listening

0:07:31.870,0:07:33.717
under the effects of LSD,

0:07:33.741,0:07:38.262
we found that the entire brain[br]was listening to music

0:07:38.286,0:07:40.465
and psychedelics were turning up the gain.

0:07:41.538,0:07:44.945
Where nostalgia could recruit[br]brain regions involved in language,

0:07:44.969,0:07:46.124
memory and emotion,

0:07:46.148,0:07:48.450
psychedelics were recruiting[br]these brain regions

0:07:48.474,0:07:49.760
at least twice as strongly.

0:07:49.784,0:07:51.926
Brain regions such as the thalamus,

0:07:51.950,0:07:53.950
that's involved in basic[br]sensory processing

0:07:53.974,0:07:55.486
or the medial prefrontal cortex

0:07:55.510,0:07:57.130
and the posterior singular cortex,

0:07:57.154,0:08:00.126
which can be involved in memory[br]and emotion and mental imagery.

0:08:00.150,0:08:03.321
These brain regions were recruited[br]up to four times as strongly

0:08:03.345,0:08:05.865
during the effects of LSD[br]than without LSD.

0:08:07.274,0:08:10.122
Psychedelics turn the knob up to 11.

0:08:10.850,0:08:13.861
Sensory information[br]is more richly experienced in the brain;

0:08:13.885,0:08:17.220
emotions, memories[br]and mental imagery are supercharged,

0:08:17.244,0:08:19.893
and it may be the wholesale[br]and strong recruitment

0:08:19.917,0:08:24.139
of a wide range of brain regions[br]during these experiences

0:08:24.163,0:08:26.353
that is the necessary key[br]to unlocking change

0:08:26.377,0:08:29.924
that sets these drugs[br]and these experiences apart from others.

0:08:30.666,0:08:32.632
And the effects can be long-lasting.

0:08:33.477,0:08:35.098
In a study of healthy individuals,

0:08:35.122,0:08:37.552
I demonstrated that a single[br]high dose of psilocybin

0:08:37.576,0:08:41.516
could reduce negative affect in volunteers[br]for at least a week after psilocybin,

0:08:41.540,0:08:43.064
and increase positive affect

0:08:43.088,0:08:46.428
for at least a month[br]after a single high dose of psilocybin.

0:08:46.735,0:08:48.298
The reduction in negative affect

0:08:48.322,0:08:50.798
that we observed after[br]psilocybin administration

0:08:50.822,0:08:54.208
was accompanied by a reduction,[br]one week after psilocybin,

0:08:54.232,0:08:57.186
in the response of a primitive[br]brain region called the amygdala

0:08:57.210,0:08:58.778
to emotional stimuli.

0:08:58.802,0:09:03.092
In a separate study in patients[br]with major depressive disorder,

0:09:03.116,0:09:07.426
not only did we observe a substantial[br]decrease in depression severity

0:09:07.450,0:09:10.753
in most of our patients[br]after two doses of psilocybin,

0:09:10.777,0:09:14.900
but we also observed a reduction[br]in the amygdala response

0:09:14.924,0:09:18.309
to negative affective[br]stimuli, specifically,

0:09:18.333,0:09:19.751
one week after psilocybin.

0:09:20.212,0:09:22.020
This reduction in amygdala response

0:09:22.044,0:09:25.412
was associated with an enduring[br]reduction in depression severity

0:09:25.436,0:09:28.151
for at least three months[br]after psilocybin administration,

0:09:28.175,0:09:29.978
but frankly, we're still counting.

0:09:31.073,0:09:32.641
So what does this all mean?

0:09:33.562,0:09:38.056
It means that music[br]and psychedelics may be able

0:09:38.080,0:09:41.693
to alter the entire brain[br]for a period of time,

0:09:41.717,0:09:45.910
and that may lead to a change[br]in neural circuitry

0:09:45.934,0:09:49.490
that may be stuck in patterns[br]of negative emotional bias.

0:09:49.514,0:09:52.945
This may be able to give people[br]a period of relief

0:09:52.969,0:09:55.503
from the grip and the claws[br]of negative emotion.

0:09:56.675,0:10:00.413
And that may be just enough to give[br]someone access to new perspectives

0:10:00.437,0:10:01.914
on their selves and their lives

0:10:01.938,0:10:04.673
and begin on the road to healing[br]from years of depression.

0:10:06.428,0:10:09.069
These drugs are early[br]in stages of research,

0:10:09.093,0:10:13.616
but they're now being researched[br]for a wide range of medical indications.

0:10:13.640,0:10:14.790
There's evidence growing

0:10:14.814,0:10:18.131
that psychedelics may be effective[br]in helping to treat mood disorders

0:10:18.155,0:10:19.845
such as major depressive disorder,

0:10:19.869,0:10:21.298
treatment-resistant depression

0:10:21.322,0:10:22.757
and the depression and anxiety

0:10:22.781,0:10:24.910
that accompany a late-stage[br]cancer diagnosis.

0:10:24.934,0:10:28.294
There's also evidence accumulating[br]that psychedelics may be effective

0:10:28.318,0:10:31.262
in helping to treat a wide range[br]of substance-use disorders,

0:10:31.286,0:10:33.373
including smoking, drinking[br]and cocaine use.

0:10:33.397,0:10:35.462
Additional studies[br]are either being planned

0:10:35.486,0:10:37.271
or are already underway

0:10:37.295,0:10:40.200
to determine whether psychedelics[br]may be effective in treating

0:10:40.224,0:10:42.366
an even wider range[br]of intractable disorders

0:10:42.390,0:10:45.035
such as OCD, PTSD,

0:10:45.059,0:10:46.961
opioid-use disorder and anorexia.

0:10:48.368,0:10:50.989
At this point it might be reasonable[br]to take a step back

0:10:51.013,0:10:54.043
and say, "Are psychedelics[br]being sold as a panacea?"

0:10:54.067,0:10:56.466
And if so, we should[br]be rightfully skeptical.

0:10:56.490,0:11:00.419
Why should we expect such a small family[br]of compounds to be so effective

0:11:00.443,0:11:03.307
in treating such a wide range[br]of disparate disorders?

0:11:05.310,0:11:07.476
Here's a perspective we might consider.

0:11:08.714,0:11:11.294
Some of these disorders[br]share a common thread.

0:11:12.459,0:11:14.602
At some level,

0:11:14.626,0:11:17.888
mood disorders and substance-use disorders[br]involve negative affect

0:11:17.912,0:11:20.323
and a disconnection[br]from our most authentic selves.

0:11:21.653,0:11:23.903
Psychedelics may break that mold.

0:11:24.923,0:11:28.142
Psychedelics and music[br]may represent a one-two punch

0:11:28.166,0:11:32.541
that can operate on psychological[br]neural processes such as negative affect

0:11:32.565,0:11:35.318
that cut across and contribute[br]to multiple disorders.

0:11:35.342,0:11:39.533
It may be that targeting[br]such transdiagnostic processes

0:11:39.557,0:11:43.001
is what's necessary to really help people

0:11:43.025,0:11:46.682
to develop the resources[br]that they need to begin to recover

0:11:46.706,0:11:49.302
from years of depression[br]and substance use.

0:11:50.394,0:11:53.491
They say you never get a second chance[br]to make a first impression,

0:11:53.515,0:11:55.516
and that may be true[br]for psychedelic drugs.

0:11:55.540,0:11:58.379
After all, no matter[br]how much data come out

0:11:58.403,0:12:01.703
for the potential of therapeutic[br]effects of these drugs,

0:12:01.727,0:12:05.431
there are still some who are stuck[br]on the stigma from the '60s and '70s:

0:12:05.455,0:12:08.028
myths of the wildly addictive[br]properties of these drugs

0:12:08.052,0:12:09.783
or myths of genetic abnormalities

0:12:09.807,0:12:12.285
or birth defects after[br]being exposed to these drugs,

0:12:12.309,0:12:14.766
or fears that people[br]are going to lose their minds

0:12:14.790,0:12:15.940
and go insane --

0:12:15.964,0:12:17.320
or maybe even most pervasive

0:12:17.344,0:12:20.019
is the sense that these effects[br]are necessarily real

0:12:20.043,0:12:24.565
and that they're a necessary outcome[br]of having been exposed to these compounds.

0:12:25.499,0:12:28.447
It may be time to change[br]our thinking on that point.

0:12:29.547,0:12:32.573
No one should expect psychedelic[br]drugs to work for everyone.

0:12:32.597,0:12:35.605
No one should expect psychedelic[br]drugs to work for everything.

0:12:35.629,0:12:37.027
They're powerful compounds

0:12:37.051,0:12:41.557
that need to be administered[br]under carefully controlled circumstances.

0:12:42.323,0:12:44.705
And there are almost certainly[br]people in this world

0:12:44.729,0:12:46.935
for whom psychedelics[br]are incredibly dangerous.

0:12:48.014,0:12:49.164
But ...

0:12:49.719,0:12:53.713
antibiotics administered to the wrong[br]person under the wrong conditions

0:12:53.737,0:12:55.959
can be incredibly dangerous, if not worse.

0:12:56.763,0:12:59.764
But administered to the right person[br]under the right conditions,

0:12:59.788,0:13:01.135
antibiotics save lives.

0:13:02.353,0:13:05.652
Administered to the right people[br]under the right conditions,

0:13:05.676,0:13:08.195
psychedelic drugs may save lives.

0:13:11.066,0:13:16.067
It can often feel like it's impossible[br]to heal our hearts and our minds

0:13:16.091,0:13:17.250
and to grow,

0:13:17.274,0:13:20.598
but I truly believe that we all have[br]the resources within ourselves

0:13:20.622,0:13:21.773
to do just that.

0:13:21.797,0:13:26.379
The challenge is often identifying[br]and connecting with those resources,

0:13:26.403,0:13:29.376
and it may be that psychedelics[br]and music can help people

0:13:29.400,0:13:30.550
to do just that.

0:13:32.030,0:13:36.689
Together, psychedelics and music[br]may be able to open our minds to change

0:13:36.713,0:13:38.379
and direct that change,

0:13:38.403,0:13:41.833
reconnect us with our most[br]authentic selves

0:13:41.857,0:13:44.407
and allow us access to the things

0:13:44.431,0:13:47.170
that really allow us to make[br]meaning in this world

0:13:47.194,0:13:48.737
and reconnect

0:13:48.761,0:13:50.452
with our most authentic selves.

0:13:51.170,0:13:52.320
Thank you.

0:13:52.344,0:13:56.571
(Applause)