The Decibel - Happy Enough: Can psychedelics improve your mental health?

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

Psychedelics, substances like LSD and psilocybin mushrooms that cause altered states of consciousness, often remind people of hippies in the 1960s. But more researchers are looking into their potential benefits for our well-being. Scientists say psychedelics – which are illegal for recreational use in Canada – could have massive implications on how we treat and heal from major mental health disorders like PTSD, depression and anxiety. Garvia speaks with Dr. Monnica Williams, clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Ottawa, where she is the co-director of the new master’s program in psychedelics and consciousness studies. They discuss the latest research and whether psychedelics will, and should, become mainstream. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, it's Cheryl. It's the start of a new year, and for many people, that means looking for ways to improve our lives. How can we be happier, healthier? How do we avoid burnout? The Globe and Mail's podcast, Happy Enough, explores those big questions. It digs into what it means to be truly happy and why that matters in our world today. Host Garvia Bailey talks to experts and regular folks, asking questions like, why does giving feel better than receiving? Can changes in your diet make you happier? And why creativity can be a mood booster. The new season of Happy Enough is coming out January 27th. You can listen to the entire first season now,

wherever you listen to podcasts. Take a listen to this episode of Happy Enough right now. Hope you enjoy it. Hey, how are we feeling today? You happy? Are you happy enough? My name is Garvey Bailey, and it's so nice to be able to welcome you to the second season of Happy Enough.

Our podcast explores what it truly means to be happy and why it matters in our era of stress, bleak news, burnout from the daily grind. As for me, yeah, I'm still on my grind. I'm still broadcasting and producing and splitting my time between Toronto and Stratford. I'm going to get real with you that it's not easy. Today, today I'm going through some stuff, really hard life stuff. And to be honest, I had to

seriously lean into all the tips and teachings and wisdom I've learned from last season. And it's really helped. Meditating is now a thing for me. I try to do it as often as I can. My phone, mostly it lives outside of my bedroom. And I've talked to strangers whenever I could and not in a creepy way, in a very friendly, lovely way, I hope. This show, my life, our guests, have taught me that happiness is a practice. It's an accumulation of little actions and thoughts every single day. It isn't a magical poof you're happy. But today, we want to talk about something that users say can feel a little bit like magic. We're talking psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms or LSD and their potential to improve well-being and happiness. Now, last season, we spoke to several

experts, and they said that research on psychedelics and their potential benefits could have massive implications on how we treat and heal from major mental health problems. For example, a study released just this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that One dose of LSD eased severe anxiety for months. Now, I want to make something very clear. These substances are mostly illegal in Canada. The movement to make them more accessible is still in its infancy. And critics say more high-quality research is needed before they become mainstream.

But that doesn't mean we're not curious about the research and where the science, is going. Joining us today is Dr. Monica Williams. She's a clinical psychologist and Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities. She's also an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, where she's the co-director of the new master's program in psychedelics and consciousness studies. The program launched last year, and it's the first of its kind in Canada. Our conversation is coming up after the break. Dr. Monica Williams, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. It's great being here.

When we first started this podcast, in the first season of the podcast, we talked to a lot of researchers, and they told us that there's a lot of new and exciting research coming out right now when it comes to psychedelics and well-being. So for the totally uninitiated, what exactly are we talking about when we say psychedelics? Like, let's just go straight to, you know, the nitty-gritty part of it and how they affect people. Can you give me kind of a cold's notes on that first? Sure, absolutely. So when we're talking about psychedelics, we're thinking about substances that have the ability to create what we refer to as a non-ordinary state of consciousness or sometimes people call it altered states of consciousness. And these are substances, probably one of the most familiar is LSD, which, you know, was very popular

back in the 60s, as well as other substances that are related to that, such as MDMA, which is the active ingredient in ecstasy. There are many, many psychedelic substances. Many of them come from plants that just grow out of the ground like psilocybin, magic mushrooms, as well as other types of plant medicines like peyote. and combination of plant medicines that are used in substances like ayahuasca, which are very popular now and have emerged from the Amazon basin. Well, that kind of brings me to my next question,

because I'd like to get into that a little bit. I think when people think of psychedelics, it is images of, you know, hippies in the 60s, tuning in and dropping out and all that. But I know that these substances, they've been a part of indigenous cultures around the world for hundreds and hundreds of years. What's the reality of how people use psychedelics today? Right. Well, I mean, I'm glad you mentioned indigenous cultures because, you know,

what we know about psychedelics and psychedelic assisted therapy, as we'll discuss, comes from indigenous wisdom. Some of it through, you know, cultural exchange, some of it through cultural, and this has been the foundation of our knowledge about how to use these substances for mental health. But right now, most of these substances are illegal. So many people use them underground with underground practitioners or on their own. Sometimes it's referred to as recreational use, but often people aren't using them, you know, just to get high or have a fun experience. People are often using them to address mental health problems that they've not.

been successful in addressing in contemporary Western medicine for problems like trauma, depression, and anxiety. And then there are also a number of people using them for spiritual growth and personal insights. So you see this whole range of uses for these substances and, you know, they've been shown to be helpful in all of these ways. Can I ask you what drew you to this line of study, doctor of psychology, all of this. There's so many different paths you could have gone down. Why was this one the one for you? Well, you know, I never, I didn't start graduate school thinking, I'm going to be a psychedelic

researcher. I mean, if somebody had told me that, I'd have thought they were nuts. So I never imagined I would be doing this kind of work. In fact, you know, I never even, I never took, you know, substances in high school or or in college or university. I, you know, grew up in the Nancy Reagan just say no era. Right. And I didn't really see the appeal to it.

So I was never really interested in that. And it was really when I was directly approached by an organization called MAPS or multidisciplinary association for psychedelic studies that I first started to learn what was going on. And so, you know, when they first contacted me, I think I, I think I, probably put that email in the trash, thinking like, what the hell? Who are these people? What is this? Right. Who are these people? They were persistent, though, and eventually, you know, convinced me they were actually doing research and sent me some research articles to read. And I was fascinated because I was like, wow, they're actually doing real

research. This is, this is interesting. And they invited me to come to some of their trainings and to learn more about what they were doing with MDMA for PTSD. And when I started to see the work that was being done, particularly videos that they showed of people before and after treatment. And during treatment, I was fascinated because, you know, treating PTSD the way that I was trained to treat it is a very difficult, challenging treatment where the client has to revisit some very painful memories with the therapist.

and instead I saw people laying on a couch with blindfold on listening to music and they're just getting better. And I'm like, well, dang, that's what I want for my patients. There's so much renewed interest just generally in the public around how psychedelics can combat, as you said, problems like PTSD or depression, stress, anxiety. Does the science show that the psychedelics can heal what's happening in the brain? Yeah, yeah, that's a very good question because, you know, a lot of the pharmaceuticals that we're currently using for mental health, they manage the symptoms, but they're generally not cures, right? So people aren't, you know, usually taking these medicines and it's curing their depression or anxiety, which is one of the reasons I find psychedelics so, compelling because to your point, with the psychedelics, we're actually seeing things like neurogenesis happening, you know, synaptogenesis, neuroplasticity. We're seeing changes in the brain

where people are rewiring their own brains as a way of healing the problems that they've had. And these effects last, you know, anywhere from 48 hours to a week, or more depending on the psychedelic after it's taken. So even after the acute effects, after the trip, people's brains are still healing. And that's why we tell people after a psychedelic session, you know, just find some time to yourself and chill. Don't do stressful things. Just give your brain a chance to settle and work on those new pathways so that you can really get the most benefit from your experience. In your answer, you mentioned a couple things, neurogenesis, synapsogenesis, and the way that our brains are being rewired. Can you just break that down for me? What is synapsogenesis and neurogenesis?

Right. So neurogenesis, that just means that we're creating new brain cells, you know, and that's something that people are always wondering, how do we get our brains to make more brain cells? Because if you damage parts of your brain, you know, it's, sometimes that can mean permanent damage because those cells don't heal on their own or they don't heal enough, you know, to get back your functioning. And when I talk about synaptogenesis, those are just the connectors between brain cells. And what's really interesting about this, too, is that, you know, there's a lot of things that happen to us that we can't remember. They're still in our brain, but we just don't have pathways to them anymore because of a natural process called pruning. It happens at a few predictable times in childhood and emphasis is why you can't remember things that happen to you when you're a baby because we don't, your mind thinks we don't need that information anymore. We're going to trim those synapses. You don't have access to that information. It's still there. You just don't have access.

But when you have synaptogenesis, that means you can create new pathways. Those pathways can actually access those memories you didn't have access to anymore. And one thing we see in the research that's so exciting is that psychedelics improve what they call autobiographical memory. And people have even have experience of remembering things they forgot. Wow, you are tripping me out right now. Truly, truly. So are you saying that unlike, say, an antidepressant that you could be on for your whole life, this can be more of something that you're on for a while. This doesn't have to be a forever treatment?

Yes, yes, exactly. And this is what we do at my clinic. I have two clinics, actually, where we do ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Ketamine is also a psychedelic. that it's one of the only ones that's legal that we can use for this. And what we do is people come and they get therapy, and then every so many sessions, one of the therapy sessions is going to be really long,

and they're going to get some ketamine. And we see those same benefits that people are having immediate effects that are temporary, where they have a release of neurotransmitters and you feel more relaxed or better for a little while. But the neuroplasticity is really the important piece, because that's what's going to bring about the changes that keep them better. And at my clinic, you know, people may have anywhere from like two to six of these sessions. It's not intended to be like daily use.

It's not like you pop a pill every day. Right. We have a specific plan. You get a few of them. And then we expect you to be feeling better. So that's how that works. So feeling better is what this show is all about. Happy enough.

Can you give me an example of. of how people feel better? Like, what does that look like? Well, for example, I mean, I'm thinking right now of a client who had been struggling with depression, you know, and after just a few sessions, notices that, you know, they don't feel like binging on sweets anymore in the morning. And they realize that they're actually catching up on things at work that they've put off for a year. and they're realizing that they have more sex drive and just more motivation in life. And, you know, these are the changes that we, these are kind of changes we might see over time, you know, with the psychedelics and the therapy. I need to mention that for this type of therapy, it's really important that it's not just the drugs because people can have psychedelics and get all kinds of insights.

But if you don't do anything with them, you're not going to necessarily improve. prove. And so it's really important. That to me is super important to this conversation because like I said, like people are self-medicating all the time now in a hope to feel better or something like it. But you're saying that the therapy is important, the talking to someone. Absolutely. And you see this, for example, with ketamine, right? You can go to a ketamine clinic and get an infusion where they just put it right in your vein. get any therapy and then you have to keep coming back. And that's one model that, I mean, is really helpful for some people where nothing else has helped them. But our model, we don't do that because we have the therapy bookending every ketamine session and that way people can build on the things

that are coming up for them. And so I think that, you know, that's a much, I think that's a much more solid model. So, you know, you can take, you know, mushrooms and watch hockey and be like, well, that was kind of a cool game while I was on it and maybe not have anything beneficial that you take away with it. Or you could have that same experience and, you know, talk to people, a journal about it, meditate on what came up for you and then incorporate that into your life and have huge changes. We'll be back with more from Dr. Monica Williams after the break. Okay. I want to go back to the guy or the girl. watching the hockey game that is just like, wow, that was fun. I just really enjoyed that.

I'm just wondering if there is any research into whether psychedelics can help improve our just general well-being, like people that are not clinically or, you know, they don't have those tricky mental health problems that you're talking about, but they just, you know, we're living in such dark and hard times. And I'm just. wondering about that, the everyday person that wants to just feel better. Is there research going into that? Well, I mean, there's not as much research looking at, you know, people who, you know, we might refer to as healthy volunteers because basically, in a nutshell, it's hard as a researcher to get the medicines, to get the approvals from Health Canada, get the approvals from your

institution, to do the research plus a bundle of money that you need. And then to justify it saying, oh, yeah, we're going to do this on healthy people. It's not a good selling point, right? If the government's going to give you a million dollars, they want to know you're using that on people who have mental health problems. So there's not as much research right now on healthy volunteers. That being said, there is some research, for example,

looking at naturalistic use, looking at sort of large-scale studies where they've just surveyed people across the country on a number of things. And one of the things that we do find is that people who report using psychedelics naturalistically are actually having

no more or even fewer mental health conditions than people who don't, which is a bit counterintuitive given that most of this use is illicit. So there is some indication, there's some hint that actually using these substances is more helpful

than harmful on average. Okay. So we have such a long way to go before psychedelics are accessible in sort of a mainstream way. Like I can't go to my therapist and say, this is what I want to try necessarily. Where do you think we are as a society on that journey to psychedelics becoming more accessible?

And should they be more accessible? Yeah, those are great questions. I mean, for one, you know, certainly there are mechanisms. There are ways to get the psychedelics. for example, through the special access programs. But they're not, I wouldn't say they're really accessible to most people because first all you have to find a provider who's willing to do all the paperwork and make a case that you deserve those. And then also they have to be competent and trained to deliver them.

So the average person doesn't have access to somebody who can do that. Plus, then it's expensive too. And you may be paying a lot of money out of pocket. So certainly some people are using that route to, access psychedelics, but by and large, you know, the public doesn't have access to that. So, so that's a problem. But should they? I would say so. I would say, yes, I think psychedelics need to be much more accessible. Certainly there's some caveats because, you know, any kind of medicine that is not used in a way that is, I would say, respectful is going to ultimately end up

causing problems. We might refer to that as the show. shadow side of the medicine, right? So, and if we look at the use of psychedelics, you know, throughout history, indigenous people, they've always used them with a great deal of care and respect, which is very different than, you know, passing them around at a party, which is, you know, not a great way to use them. And so the problem is, of course, making them more accessible for medical use means making them more accessible for these other uses, which are not healthy and have their own problems associated with them. But that being, said, you know, if we look at sort of the spectrum of different kinds of medicines and substances

that are available now versus, you know, psychedelics, I would say they're actually much safer than a lot of things that are legal, like alcohol and tobacco. And there really isn't any medical rationale for restricting their use. I personally think if it grows out of the ground, it should be legal. You know, you should be able to go to a health food store and get it. And, you know, in a, be regulated in terms of making sure that, you know, what the person says is in the pill is actually in the pill, you know, regulated in that way. But I don't think that, you know, it should be so hard to get these substances as it is now. So I would say if it grows out of the ground, legalize it, if it comes in a bottle regulated, and nobody should be profiteering on these

substances, because that's always a problem. I know that there's going to be folks listening right now who are skeptical about psychedelics who are like, come on now, you know, and we'll feel uncomfortable about the idea about tripping out and rewiring their brains. What do you want to tell them? Yeah, well, I guess I would tell those folks if, I mean, if your life is going great and you feel fulfilled and actualized in every area, you don't need psychedelics. Whatever you're doing is working, that's great. You keep doing that. But if you feel that you have areas where you need to grow, that you've got areas of pain, that there are things that you've worked on and that haven't been successful, maybe psychedelics, you know, could be, you know, could be a path toward greater wellness.

Certainly, of course, I have to be very cautious right now because so many, most of these psychedelics are not yet legal and I would never advocate illegal use. That being said, a lot of of people are going overseas where they can, you know, access some of these substances in retreats. And it's a mixed bag. Some of these places are great. Some of them are fly by night. So again, you know, buyer beware. But I think there, I think that there's a lot we can get from these substances as a society. I think a lot of world leaders are very uptight. I think some of them could really benefit from some psilocybin mushrooms. Right?

With all that being said, say you are struggling, happiness is elusive and not even something that you can even think about because you can't get through, you know, it's difficult to put one foot in front of the other. If that person went to their doctor or their psychologist or psychiatrist or their therapist and said, can we go down this path? In this day, in 2025, as I sit here in southwestern Ontario, my therapist would say what? Well, I could tell you what I'd say as a therapist would be, you know, I can't, you know, that would put my license at risk. to participate in that with you. But I'd be happy to either offer you ketamine-assisted therapy, which is legal, but expensive, or refer you to some overseas plant medicine retreats, where I personally know people and go myself and could plug you in there, which is also expensive. So those would be the options I could offer people. Yeah, the barriers are there.

Where would you like to see us in if you and I are going to have this conversation, 10 years time or in 20 years time, how do you hope that conversation has evolved? Oh, wow. So 10 or 20 years, I'm hoping that these substances will become widely available for everyone who needs them. I was just at the last month, I was at Psychedelic Science Conference in Denver, and I went to a talk on the use of Ibogaine for addictions, that's another substance. And at the talk, they were saying, and this blew my mind, that it takes 20 years for a new drug to come to market after all of the research and testing and approvals. And so we're like 20 years behind right now. All the new things that could be helping us are kind of stuck in this

regulatory quagmire. So we've been at this, you know, 10, 20 years already. So probably another 10, 10 years, realistically, hopefully maybe only another four years is my hope. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us about this, Dr. Williams. It has been a pleasure and really, really eye-opening to me. And I do want to have this conversation with you in five years and see what the landscape looks like, if that's okay with you. Yeah, I would love that. I would love that. Yes, let's definitely talk again about this. It's an important topic and I think it has some really important implications for individuals for mental health and society as a whole. That was Dr. Monica Williams,

co-director of the University of Ottawa's new psychedelics master's program. Thank you again to Dr. Williams for joining us. All right. So are you tripping out with me after that conversation? I'm tripping out a little bit. I'm very curious to see how the research into psychedelics develops and whether our society will welcome or reject these substances as a potential way to improve well-being. Happy Enough is produced by Kyle Fulton and Emily Jackson. Our executive producer is Kieran Rana. And if you liked our show, please give us a five-star rating and follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. My name is Garvey-Bailey.

Catch you next week.