The Dysphoric Project is teaming up with Coheal to organize a free virtual summit for Women’s Health & Psychedelics.
Free Virtual Event
In the spirit of collaboration, partnership, and advocacy, we’re hosting a free, 3 day virtual summit to honor, promote, and connect leaders in women’s health and psychedelics. This is a networking and advocacy event that is open to the public for educational and advocacy purposes.
Research Advocacy
Several organizations in the women’s health space need research funding and support quickly. In a sea full of psychedelic research, we’re missing key data points that are critical to understand female efficacy and safety. At the same time, an increasing number of women are turning to psychedelics due to healthcare systems that do not meet their needs.
Psychedelic research is largely following the status quo when it comes to considering women - many studies on psychedelics are heavily skewed towards male research subjects, and the animal research used to understand the biological mechanisms of psychedelics has predominantly relied on male animals:
“A reliable evaluation of sex differences in response to psychedelics in human brain imaging studies is challenging, considering that many psychedelic studies exclusively enroll male participants (54), or sex ratios are not disclosed (55-57). Of those including women, they comprise an average of only 33% of experimental cohorts (58-66).”
“Compounding this further, animal studies used to understand biological mechanisms of psychedelics predominantly use one sex and present mixed neurobiological and behavioral outcomes.”
Sheida Shadani, Kyna Conn, Zane B Andrews, Claire J Foldi, Potential Differences in Psychedelic Actions Based on Biological Sex, Endocrinology, Volume 165, Issue 8, August 2024, bqae083, https://doi.org/10.1210/endocr/bqae083
Of the studies that do include women - like the Lykos MDMA trials - female data points such as the menstrual cycle are largely being ignored, and critical data points like adverse events are not often reported by sex.
The trend of adding women to psychedelic trials designed for male physiology, in combination with ignoring female specific conditions like peri-menopausal depression, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), has led to significant knowledge gaps in what we know about how psychedelics may interact with the female experience, and the female body.
Expert Speakers
Despite these challenges, there are a growing number of leaders focused on bringing in this change. The backlog of women’s health projects reaches back to the 90s, when Dr. Rick Strassman tried to study DMT and the menstrual cycle. His project was denied funding, and to date, there are still no studies on psychedelics and the menstrual cycle.
In addition to the basics of female biology, we also need research funding and support to study PMDD, peri-menopausal depression, menopausal symptoms, sexual assault trauma, and a long list of other studies that can greatly enhance the psychedelic understanding for women.
There is much work to do, and a lot of ground to cover to start bridging this gap. With this in mind, the spirit of the summit is to connect people doing the work, honor them, and to promote their contributions.
Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley, Founder of Hystelica, and an inspiring leader in this space, brings expert knowledge on the female body and psychedelics. She’s also recently launched a study on menopause and microdosing.
Victoria Wueschner, Co-founder of F.I.V.E, will be discussing her work with sexual assault survivors, 5-MEO DMT, and Somatic Therapy.
We will have ample coverage for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and we welcome Dr. Rachel Sumner from the University of Auckland who is working on the first clinical trial investigating psychedelics for PMDD.
Tracey Tee, Founder of Moms on Mushrooms, serves as a community pillar for mothers interested in psychedelics, and has launched the first survey on microdosing for PMDD.
Results from these efforts, in addition to Alana Cookman’s paper on PMDD and psychedelics, which was independently sponsored by Eleanor Taylor, will advance PMDD research and help us to better understand how psychedelics may interact with premenstrual conditions.
Impact Stories
Throughout the event, we will be sharing impact stories from women who have experienced psychedelics and wish to share with the group. Personal stories help to drive research and understanding, while allowing for nuance in a way that the formal research cannot.
If you are interested in sharing your story for the event, send an email to tina@dysphoricproject.org.
For me, sharing my personal story has been liberating and freeing. The process of sharing can be healing and therapeutic and I’m grateful to be part of an intentional event that can serve as a platform for this type of healing.
You can RSVP to stay up to date on event details, including speakers as we add them to the lineup. The RSVP form also has a section to nominate speakers - if there is anyone you want to hear from, let us know on the form, and we will do the outreach work to connect with them.
P.S - If anyone is interested in volunteer work, we’d be grateful to have you on the summit planning team! Just shoot an email to tina@dysphoricproject.org and we will find a spot that aligns with you and your goals.
Until next time,
BIG HUGS - Tina