Podbit · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Dr. Amen has watched the same cycle repeat: benzos were 'mommy's little helper,' opioids were prescribed for 'the fifth vital sign,' marijuana was 'innocuous.' Now psilocybin-associated psychosis is up 300%. For vulnerable people — who can't be identified in advance — one dose can trigger a psychotic break.
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At 26:30 · chapter starts 26:27
The legalisation wave sweeping the US has been accompanied by a cultural narrative that marijuana is safe, natural, and good medicine. Dr. Amen is having none of it. He recounts watching Senator Cory Booker publicly shame President Biden on a debate stage in 2019 for saying 'the science isn't settled' on marijuana — and feeling furious, because his own published research showed the science was very clear. [1] — Dr. Daniel Amen "Marijuana linked to 300% rise in psychosis: Psilocybin-associated psychosis has risen 300% in recent years, illustrating the danger of wide…" 27:46 Amen's study of 1,000 marijuana users found decreased activity in every brain area; a contemporary JAMA study of 1,027 users confirmed hippocampal damage affecting memory. For teenagers, the stakes are even higher: marijuana use in adolescence is associated with significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide in the 20s. The chapter then pivots to psilocybin, where Amen is equally cautious despite the therapeutic excitement around it. He has seen the same pattern before: benzos were 'mommy's little helper,' the opioid crisis was sparked by declaring pain 'the fifth vital sign,' and marijuana was sold as innocuous. Now psilocybin-associated psychosis has risen 300% in just a couple of years. His argument is not that these substances have no therapeutic value — it's that rolling them out without understanding which vulnerable individuals they could harm is reckless.
Psilocybin-associated psychosis has risen 300% in recent years, illustrating the danger of widespread psychedelic use without understanding individual vulnerability.
America prescribes antidepressants at 10x the rate of other countries. 85% of those prescriptions come from non-psychiatric physicians in 7-minute visits, meeting standard of care only 12% of the time. The drugs don't heal — they suppress symptoms while rewiring the brain to need them.
AI nailed Andrew Huberman's vertigo-vs-low-blood-pressure diagnosis because that pattern has been reported millions of times. But every patient's liver is different and data on liver surgeries is scarce worldwide — making solo robot surgery dangerous. The rule is simple: data abundance means AI can help; data scarcity means keep the human in the loop.
Fei-Fei Li's father had liver surgery performed by a da Vinci robot guided by a surgeon. The result: 10 times less blood loss than a typical procedure. This isn't replacement — it's the gold standard of human-machine collaboration, where the human's judgment and the robot's precision combine.
US drug overdose deaths fell from 110,000 to roughly 70,000 — the biggest CDC-recorded single-year drop ever. Men's rates fell 27% in one year, and the steepest decline of all was among 15–24-year-olds, down 37%. The crisis narrative around young men needs to make room for signs of genuine progress.
Kessler thought his grief expertise would protect him. It didn't. When his son David died unexpectedly, he found himself on the floor — and eventually realized that acceptance alone wasn't enough. That unmet need became the sixth stage: finding meaning.
Grief isn't just death — it's any unwanted change. Kessler lectured at Coca-Cola and General Mills not because they had lots of funerals, but because change management is grief management. People who grieve well live well.
Witnessing someone's grief isn't just emotional support — it's an essential act of healing. Kessler argues grief is a severance and connection heals it. But real witnessing has two steps: seeing the pain AND affirming the person's capacity to recover.
Avoiding grief isn't free — it's exhausting. Kessler's beach ball metaphor nails it: pushing a small balloon down is easy, but holding a massive beach ball underwater takes constant, draining energy. Unattended feelings don't disappear; they just consume you.
Most people try to control their environment to avoid triggers. Kessler flips this entirely: triggers aren't problems to manage around — they're a detailed map to your pain and your healing. Every trigger points directly to what needs attention.
Running from pain doesn't leave it behind — it accelerates the chase. Whatever we run from pursues us, and whatever we face transforms us. Both Kessler and Lewis Howes testify to knowing both roads firsthand.
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