--- title: A New Era in Psychedelic Medicine description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/6106152/psychedelic-medicine-health-care-workers/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-10-13T13:48:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:15:35.032Z article:section: Ideas og:title: COVID-19 Opened Door to a New Era in Psychedelic Medicine og:description: We need to invest in studying psychedelic treatments ‘further and faster’ og:url: https://time.com/6106152/psychedelic-medicine-health-care-workers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e1dd5f33587f580/698a1daee76ad275fd6394c0/GettyImages-1327828603.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: Shot of a young doctor sleeping at her desk og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: COVID-19 Opened Door to a New Era in Psychedelic Medicine twitter:description: We need to invest in studying psychedelic treatments ‘further and faster’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e1dd5f33587f580/698a1daee76ad275fd6394c0/GettyImages-1327828603.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How COVID-19 Opened the Door to a New Era in Psychedelic Medicine > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=c3528c5b-3312-4c2a-a8aa-c4643e66257c&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Michael Pollan on the Healing Power of Psychedelics [Watch (HLS stream): Michael Pollan on the Healing Power of Psychedelics](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Z7yskoOT.m3u8) (4:20)  _Published 2018-05-16. Author Michael Pollan explored the therapeutic properties of psychedelics for his latest book, "How to Change Your Mind." His research includes firsthand experiences with the drugs._ by [Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider](https://time.com/author/dr-shoshana-ungerleider-2/) ## Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider Oct 13, 2021 1:48 PM UTC by [Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider](https://time.com/author/dr-shoshana-ungerleider-2/) ## Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider Oct 13, 2021 1:48 PM UTC From Wall Street to Hollywood, psychedelics are having a cultural moment. For those of us who grew up in the “[this is your brain on drugs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FtNm9CgA6U)” era, it’s hard to let go of stigma—and the mental image of an egg sizzling on a hot pan. But as a growing number of states and cities move to decriminalize drugs, and investors flock to an emerging market for psychedelic health care, substances like psilocybin, ketamine and LSD are edging into mainstream culture—and setting the stage for a paradigm shift in modern medicine. Within the next few years, we could see psychedelic therapies prescribed for refractory depression and [post-traumatic stress disorder](https://time.com/5295544/war-on-drugs-ptsd-mdma-rick-doblin/) (PTSD), or used in palliative care among those facing a life-limiting illness. But first we need to more deeply understand the benefits of psychedelic treatments. Right now, we are in the perfect storm to accelerate continued study—and health care workers are on the front lines. It’s no coincidence that psychedelics are entering the conversation at the moment we most sorely need new ideas in mental health care. The world is experiencing mass trauma from COVID-19\. It’ll take years for us to truly understand the magnitude of the pandemic’s toll on our collective mental health, but on the front lines, the picture is much clearer. In a [recent survey](https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/half-health-workers-report-burnout-amid-covid-19) of more than 20,000 frontline medical workers, 38% reported experiencing anxiety or depression during the pandemic, and 49% suffered burnout. [Another survey](https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/burnout-alcohol-ptsd-health-workers-are-suffering/) found nearly one-quarter of all health care workers showed signs of probable PTSD. When the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses [surveyed](https://www.aacn.org/newsroom/hear-us-out-campaign-reports-nurses-covid-19-reality) 6,000 of their members this year, 66% said they had considered leaving their jobs because of the pandemic. “No amount of money could convince me to stay on as a bedside ICU nurse right now,” a Seattle-area nurse [wrote](https://www.vox.com/22600439/nurse-america-mental-health-suicide) in a resignation note posted on Twitter. “I can’t continue to live with the toll on my body and mind. Even weekly therapy has not been enough to dilute the horrors I carry with me from this past year and a half.” Among health care workers, the prolonged battle against COVID-19 has intensified a long smoldering problem. Facing a fragmented medical sytem with frequently misaligned incentives, health care workers have been grappling with anxiety and depression—even before COVID, the suicide rate among doctors was more than twice that of the general public. From [support groups and training](https://time.com/6099936/doctor-burnout-pandemic/) to apps that monitor mental health, there are a number of programs that aim to solve and treat the problems leading to clinician burnout. But most have barely scratched the surface, and the prevalence of burnout during the pandemic has led researchers to explore alternative solutions—including psychedelic therapies. A new study at the University of Washington is evaluating the [efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy](https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2021/06/08/psychedelics-for-frontline-clinicians-with-covid-related-burnout-a-study-is-looking-into-it/?sh=63d4b8a047c2) using psilocybin for frontline health care workers experiencing COVID-related distress. “The situations that frontline doctors and nurses are facing is unprecedented,” says Dr. Anthony Back, who’s leading the study. “The symptoms of depression, burnout and moral injury call out for research that looks at whether psychedelics can play a role in healing the healers.” The U.S. is not alone in seeking alternative therapies for the growing number of health care workers in crisis: at Vancouver Island University in Canada, the [Roots to Thrive](https://news.viu.ca/supporting-health-care-professionals-suffering-emotional-distress) ketamine-assisted therapy program treats health care providers and first responders with PTSD, depression, anxiety and addiction. Realizing the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapy with health care workers is not without its challenges. For medical professionals, there’s a culture of perfectionism that makes asking for help a sign of weakness. Not only do health care workers seeking psychedelic-assisted therapy face the stigma associated with the use of these medicines, but there’s a stigma around seeking help in the first place. Just past these barriers and stigmas, however, there’s enormous potential. If these studies and programs are successful, they have the potential to alleviate the symptoms of stress, burnout and depression that health care workers are feeling. They may even stop medical professionals from leaving the workforce at an alarming rate and avert the looming disaster of a [worldwide health care worker shortage](https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce). The halo effect could be enormous and offer the possibility of treating others in high-stress fields. Healing the healers is a win-win, and everyone can potentially benefit from better health care outcomes. The pandemic’s toll on health care workers [affects the level of care](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/02/1039312524/health-workers-know-what-good-care-is-pandemic-burnout-is-getting-in-the-way) that they’re able to provide—and you probably don’t need the World Health Organization’s official definition of burnout to tell you that it’s characterized by reduced effectiveness at work. If psychedelic treatments have the potential to alleviate any person’s suffering, they are worth studying. But because they have the potential to alleviate a great many peoples’ suffering—both directly and indirectly by improving the mental health of our frontline clinicians—we need to invest in studying them further and faster. ## Transcript I guess the biggest misconception people have about psychedelics is that these are drugs that make you crazy. And we now have evidence that that does happen sometimes, but in many more cases, these are drugs that can make you sane, or more sane. [ MUSIC ] If you ask people about what psychedelics, or LSD, they're gonna think about the Timothy Leary, this flamboyant psychology professor. Studying psilocybin and LSD and then telling everybody they should take it. I'm very glad to be discredited, I don't want credibility. I want incredibility. [ LAUGH ] The drugs kind of escape laboratory and were embraced by the counter culture and proved to be very disruptive to society [ MUSIC ] So you had this full scale moral panic that eventually doomed the research but what people don't know is that that's 60s episode was really one small chapter in a much longer story. Psycho drugs are one kind of another have been used by different societies for thousands of years. If you compare mental health care with any other branch of medicine infectious disease, cardiology, oncology there have been very few achievements. Mental health treatment has not lengthened the human life span. So we need some new thinking, we need some new ideas and psychedelics may well be that new idea. There's a really exciting field of research underway, right now, looking at psychedelics. Especially psilocybin, the ingredient in magic mushrooms, to help people deal with mental illness of various kinds. Addiction, depression, obsession, and the fear and anxiety that surrounds a terminal diagnosis. And the feeling among the scientist is that these chemicals allow us to essentially reboot the brain. All those kind of deep grooves that lock us into patterns of both thought and behavior are dissolved and temporarily suspended in a way that allows us to break those patterns. We're now in a different world. The adults now, many of them have experience of psychedelics, they're not gonna react in such a panicky way, I don't think. Many of the people in charge of our institutions, probably regulators at the FDA, people at the American Psychiatric Association, they have personal experience of psychedelics. And they're, I think, gonna bring a more rational, Attitude toward them. I learned that there is a thriving underground of psychedelic therapists. These are serious professionals but they're doing something illegal. And I was able to find my way into this. Community and after interviewing several of them I found a couple people I felt comfortable enough to entrust my mind to. This isn't doctors giving you a pill and sending you out into the world. You are, for a period of four or five hours, in a room that's decorated like a kind of cozy den or study, you're lying down on a couch, you have eye shades on. And headphones, which are playing a very carefully curated playlist, to make you go inside, to have an internal experience. And you're with two guides at all times. Some people are put in touch with childhood trauma. Some people have encounters with death and I mean, it can be very dark. But with the help of the guides, you use that material and try to understand it. So after the session, you always come back the next day and have what's called a period of integration. Where the guides, who are trained therapists, help you interpret what happened and figure out ways to put it to good use in changing your life. My best journey was this fairly high dose [ INAUDIBLE ] journey. I had with a guide. What was stunning about it was I did have an experience of ego disillusion. I reached a point where myself kind of fell apart into these paper post its. That just got scattered into the wind. I saw myself. And I know that sounds weird. Who's the I that saw myself, but there is this split in consciousness that happens. But I saw myself scattered to the wind, but I was all right with it and I learned a really important lesson in that moment, which is that I'm not identical to my ego. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6106152/psychedelic-medicine-health-care-workers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6106152/psychedelic-medicine-health-care-workers/"},"headline":"How COVID-19 Opened the Door to a New Era in Psychedelic Medicine","datePublished":"2021-10-13T13:48:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:15:35.032Z","description":"Within the next few years, we could see psychedelic therapies prescribed for refractory depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or used in palliative care among those facing a life-limiting illness. 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