05. Yes, I've Done Psychedelics: From Psychonaut to Researcher

In episode 5 of A Chat with Uma, I share my full journey of psychedelic experiences from 2019 to now. I share the contexts surrounding my various decisions to engage in psychedelic experiences, detail the decision-making around my thought processes, provide hindsight awarenesses of crucial contextual information that was missing during some of those experiences, and how I have implemented my awarenesses into my overall decisions around psychedelic use for both treatment and personal exploration purposes. I share the journey of how psychedelic experiences and lived experiences with conditions led me to pursue psychedelic research questions as a neuroscientist and graduate student. This episode continually challenges the stigma of self-disclosure of psychedelic experiences, addressing the harms of suppressing open discussion of experiences from those of varied identities & medical conditions - with an ultimate call-to-action encouraging the amplification of voices to reduce harm and increase targeted & informed research questions. This episode provides my full, uncensored, comprehensive journey with psychedelics, and closes with the implications of my personal AND clinical treatment experiences on my decisions moving forward. Topics covered in this episode + timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome, podcast updates, upcoming events (00:09:25) Intro to episode, pre-frames, why I'm doing this episode, important disclaimers (00:25:21) 2019: Beginning psychedelic explorations, first experiences with DMT (00:45:25) Lifechanging DMT experience, metaphorical death (00:53:57) Direct excerpts read from DMT death experience, hindsight reflections, intersections with abusive therapist (01:10:05) 2020: Psilocybin experiences, unaddressed OCD effects, microdosing psilocybin (01:31:49) 2021: OCD relapse, starting proper treatment, break from psychedelics, context built around previous experiences (01:33:37) Importance of sharing our  experiences for harm reduction & furthering research, how experiences informed my research personally (01:39:00) 2022: major depressive episode, microdosing psilocybin in a different context (01:44:17) My first MDMA experience, how it differed from my previous psychedelic experiences (01:50:00): End of 2022 to beginning of 2023: Overview of clinical ketamine treatments (01:54:11) Ketamine treatments: what worked, what didn't, facing suicidality, what I ultimately learned, my plan(s) moving forward with psychedelics (02:01:00) Ending reflections, summary, closing I cannot wait to connect with you, answer all of your questions, and co-create this with you. Welcome to a Chat with Uma! Referenced Links: Grad School & Mental Illness Panel on 2/25/23: REGISTER FOR FREE! The Intercollegiate Psychedelics Network (IPN) Fireside Project: Psychedelic Peer Support Line Connect with me! My website: umarchatterjee.com Instagram: @UmaRChatterjee Twitter: @UmaRChatterjee TikTok: @UmaRChatterjee Email: [email protected]