“The mission of Mind Body Health & Politics is to expand consciousness, stimulate thought, enhance mental and physical health, and encourage community.” — Dr. Richard L. Miller
This week I am writing with a heavy heart. Teen suicide rates have surged by 29% over the past decade. Each year, thousands of precious young lives are lost this way, leaving countless grieving families and communities.
This chilling trend hit home for my recent guest Amy McGuire, J.D., Ph.D. - the founding director of the Ethical Legal Implication of PSychedelics in Society (ELIPSIS) program. Dr. McGuire is also a Professor of Biomedical Ethics at Baylor College of Medicine, where she serves as Director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.
She receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health and is. In 2022, she gave a TEDx talk titled “Can Creating Moments of Meaning Improve Mental Health?”
This question is more urgent than ever.
In her talk, she shares that her between her three sons and two of their friends, they had an alarming 9 friends who had passed in their late teens and early 20s. The causes ranged from overdoses and accidents to suicide. This shocked Amy as a parent. But her sons accepted it solemnly as a common occurrence among their peers.
What does it say about our culture when even advantaged youth feel such a lack of meaning and purpose that they turn to narcotics, reckless behavior and suicide? As Amy recounted in our conversation: “I realized that for a lot of young people, there's just this sense of a lack of meaning in their life.”
We’ve normalized deadly prescription medications. They’re overprescribed, overdosed, and overlooked. Yet psychedelics with promising mental health potential remain both illegal and taboo. Why? Partly because perpetual prescriptions make billions for big pharma, while psychedelics taken occasionally can provide meaningful awakenings with long-lasting effects.
Let me be clear - psychedelics are not a panacea, especially not for young people. Their misuse holds risks. Amy worries that many will turn to irresponsible use of psychedelics while “chasing that feeling” of transcendence, without doing the hard work to integrate insights into everyday living.
But our standards seem warped when doctors hand out benzodiazepines like candy while politicians continue demonizing psychedelics that are advancing in clinical trials. Neither deserves reckless access, but both warrant thoughtful oversight.
One thing we can all agree on is the importance of human connection and time in nature for mental health. Loneliness kills - we need each other.
I call on all who are willing to take one simple yet powerful action: have a compassionate conversation with a young person today. This is no easy task, but complacency and denial only enable our youth suicide epidemic to fester in silence. By discussing it openly and taking a stand for young lives, we can start reversing the trend through human connection.
Please listen and share this vital conversation on psychedelic medicine, youth mental health and the search for meaning.
Tune in for this healthy conversation at TalkRadio.nyc
Dr. Miller introduces his gusts, Dr. Amy McGuire, a professor of biomedical ethics and director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She focuses on ethical issues in today's changing world. They discuss the uprising of anxiety and depression which rose during the pandemic. Amy also mentions an article from the New York Times that talks about that even though there are some people without having the critical criteria of a mental health issue, there is that symptom the article says called “meh”, where there is a lack of motivation in general. Dr. Amy says that there is definitely more attention and effort to make mental health services more available in various ways. There is also a social movement to put this more into light and acknowledge deep seeded roots amongst certain populations on issues around this like structural racism. They speak about studies on post traumatic stress disorders , MDMA, and psilocybin; studies show its breakthroughs in helping this situation.
They also discuss the difficulties of getting these approved by the FDA. At the end of the day this is also business and money involved which can drive policy and action. With this, she says studies and the best science as well as understanding these medicines or products is important to understand the benefits, risks, and whether it should be approved for use. Dr. Miller talks about acknowledgement on certain substances even when it's illegal and how it’s still important to show people through guidelines on what to look out for and be safe surrounding the use of them like marajuana for instance.
Before state decriminalization or FDA approval, Amy says understanding the science and effects behind psychedelics or substances is important because when it's not illegal or decriminalized, people are more likely to try these substances on their own rather than volunteering for studies here placebos are involved and studies are happening. Once its more widely available, people are more likely to try on their own and experiment. But the studies and science involved is also important. Amy and Miller also discuss another topic within effects of substance use like an increase or decrease in creativity and motivation. Switching topics, Amy shares with Miller a personal story of her three sons who are now in their 20s and late teens. While talking with her sons and their friends, she found out about friends they had who passed away unintentionally from taking Xanax and drinking alcohol. What struck her was that they were terribly surprised that it happened. She realized that they weren't surprised because it was uncommon for them to be surrounded by these unfortunate events. Together they knew about 9 friends who unfortunately passed away in similar issues or suicide. Unfortunately she also realized that there's a common factor within people their age with drug and alcohol use and people their age in general which is a lack of meaning in life.
Not everyone will go through the same issues, but it’s common. One thing Amy says is it's important for us and our children to slow down for a second and see that life is about the opportunity to be fully present and connect with others, ourselves and the planet.
These issues are things that are all around us. It's hard being a teenager these days and it's not their fault. Not all parents are bad parents and there are no bad kids. A lot of times it's not understanding mental health, how to deal with it and psychedelics. Substances. The opportunity became an opportunity for many of us to reset and relook at work environments for instance and other parts of our lives as well as how valuable time is for us. Amy also speaks with Miller on the economic and overall well being of Houston since the pandemic. Miller thanks Amy for her work and being on the show today.
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