☁️🍄 Issue No. 013: That’s the Spirit

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Today, we’re digging into the world of religion and spirituality — and why psychologists and mental health operators should be doing a lot more research around it.

THAT’S THE SPIRIT

The mental health field could learn a lot from studying spirituality. 

ENLIGHTEN ME

Last week, researchers at the Berkeley Alembic, a nonprofit foundation and meditation center, called for deeper scientific investigation into the phenomena of spiritual awakening. 

Their proposal. For thousands of years, people across cultures have engaged in spiritual practice—meditation, contemplation, prayer—to achieve a common outcome: a complete metamorphosis of self, mind, and experience of the world. 

Why, ask the authors, isn’t this phenomenon a major source of scientific investigation? 

There are some doing work in this space, including The Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium, the Qualia Research Institute, and scientists at Harvard and Brown University.

But there are major gaps in our knowledge. Pushing for deeper insights, the Alembic is raising funds to fuel further research into the subject. 

WAKING UP

Beyond transcendence, religions have been perfecting the art of meaning-making, community, and ritual—not to mention mental peace—for millennia.

But in the past few decades, Americans have left religion, particularly Christianity, in droves. Embracing scientific rationalism and materialism, less than 34% of people in the US today identify as Protestants, down from 69% in 1948.

In severing our connection to our spirituality, we’ve also severed our connection to age-old wisdoms. 

But the pendulum is swinging back around. And it’s particularly evident in the mental health industry. Struggling with loneliness, anxiety, and depression, many are drawing from spiritual practices from different cultures, creating a patchwork of religion all their own.

Practices like yoga, meditation, and breathwork are bolstering billion-dollar businesses. Ritual, ceremony, and connection are reawakening in the form of sky-high demand for retreats. 

And the explosion of interest in psychedelics, substances catalyzing experiences of self-transcendence, signals a deep and widespread craving for the divine. 

LOOKING AHEAD

As writer Adam Mastroianni asserts, we’re in the “dark ages” of psychology.

Religions have long been investigating this vault, constructing maps of the seemingly inscrutable mind, for thousands of years. Why start from scratch? 

Now, mixing science and spirituality won’t be simple. Studies have found that peddled practices like yoga and meditation can actually lead to pseudo-transcendence, or spiritual narcissism — boosting the ego rather than quieting it.  

It’ll also be crucial to remember not to mistake the map for the territory. In other words, creating abstract, scientific maps/models may leave us stuck in concept, actually taking us further from understanding spirituality itself.

Punchline: For those who don’t know the territory exists in the first place, a map can actually be a very useful thing to have. Religion holds a wealth of knowledge, ripe for scientific investigation. Psychologists and mental health operators alike would do well to look into practicing what others preach. 

QUICK HITS

• Keeping tabs. MindMed reports positive topline results from study on LSD as a treatment for depression.

• Down the tubes. YouTube updates rules around eating disorder-related content.

• Silver lining. Psychedelics may bring sweetness to the ripening of old age.

• California sober. The university of Exeter and Iowa conduct trials on ketamine- and psilocybin-assisted therapy, respectively, for alcohol use disorder.

• Dear diary. Apple is reportedly building a new mental health journaling app. 

• DMTx. The Imperial College Centre for Psychedelic Research publishes world’s first study on extended-state DMT. [Re-read Issue No. 006: The Spirit Molecule]

NEWS & TRENDS

1) We’re so back?

Define Ventures, an early-stage VC focused on digital health companies, raised $460M across two new funds this past week. DV currently backs over 21 companies, including men’s telehealth platform Hims, women’s health startup Tia, and mental health company Concert Health. 

The raise is notable given the industry-wide digital health downturn following 2021’s stratospheric highs. Post-SVB collapse, digital health is seeing one of its lowest funding years since 2019. While Q1 2023 has bounced back from Q4 2022 lows ($3.4B, up 26% from $2.7B), the falloff is undeniable. 

Is this latest raise just an outlier or a signal for brighter days ahead? Time will tell. 

2) Round two

Last November, Colorado became the second state in the US to legalize the use of psilocybin as medicine. With Oregon’s psychedelic rollout off to a shaky start, all eyes are on Colorado as the state approaches deployment. 

This week, CO Senate President Steve Fenberg sent out bill SB-290, which proposes significant changes to the state's psychedelic law. Some of its amendments, like establishing an Indigenous community working group, aim to improve safety and inclusivity. But others may introduce complexity and restrict access, in effect contradicting voters’ will and recriminalizing some psychedelic-related activities.→ Read more 

DEALS & DEBUTS

✏️ The U.S. Department of Education awarded William James College a $5.9M grant to provide scholarships/stipends for graduate students from underserved communities to work as psychologists and behavioral health counselors in high-need school districts.→ source

🎓 Davenport University announced a $1M gift from the Klingenberg Family to support mental health. The gift will help fund a new wellness center as well as the development of two new mental health degrees.→ source

🤝 Healing CREI, a healthcare- and psychedelics-focused real estate investment company, announced a strategic alliance with Heally, a SaaS platform focused on complementary and alternative medicine clinics and clinicians.→ source

📖 Talkspace, a virtual mental healthcare platform, launched Mental Health Conditions Library, a free, clinically evaluated resource for a comprehensive range of mental health conditions. → source

🪴 Talkiatry, a virtual psychiatry care provider, joined Horizon Healthcare Services, New Jersey’s largest health insurer, to expand its services to 200M+ individuals.→ source

🛩 Dimensions, a psychedelic retreat provider, teamed up with the New Health Club, a psychedelic community and media platform, to offer legal psychedelic-assisted experiences in Europe.→ source

WHAT I’M READING

氣. From acupuncture to qigong mastery, David Eisenberg details his experience as the first-ever American to travel to China on a medical exchange program. Narrative-driven, engaging, and extremely informative. Great read for anyone curious about Eastern approaches to healing. → Encounters with Qi

Anddd break. 👏 Thank you as always for reading and following along! I truly appreciate your curiosity and attention every week. 

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Until next Sunday,

-Mel