Milan Scheidegger

Milan Scheidegger is a resident physician and a Junior Group leader at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics (University of Zurich). He aims at developing Transformational Psychotherapy as a paradigm-changing treatment approach that advocates a shift from pharmacological substitution towards transformation-based psychiatry. He is driven by the passion to understand the nature of human existence from its molecular basis up to the level of phenomenal consciousness.

CV

Milan Scheidegger has an academic background in medicine, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychiatry. After his MD-PhD training in functional and molecular neuroimaging at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering (ETH Zurich) he continues to research the neurobiology and pharmacology of altered states of consciousness. As junior group leader of Psychedelic Research & Therapy Development at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics (University of Zurich), he investigates the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as ketamine, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and DMT. He co-founded Reconnect Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission to develop transformative treatments for mental health care. Beyond empirical research, he earned an M.A. degree in History and Philosophy of Knowledge (ETH Zurich) with a focus on the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and phenomenology of consciousness, mindfulness, and deep ecology.

He is a a co-founder of the Reconnect Foundation.

Notable Research Papers

• Psilocybin-assisted mindfulness training modulates self-consciousness and brain default mode network connectivity with lasting effects (Scheidegger, et al., 2019)
• Characterization and prediction of acute and sustained response to psychedelic psilocybin in a mindfulness group retreat (Scheidegger, et al., 2019)
• Effects of serotonin 2A/1A receptor stimulation on social exclusion processing (Scheidegger, et al., 2016)
• Psilocybin-induced decrease in amygdala reactivity correlates with enhanced positive mood in healthy volunteers (Scheidegger, et al., 2015)
• Ketamine decreases resting state functional network connectivity in healthy subjects: implications for antidepressant drug action (Scheidegger, et al., 2012)

Find more on his Personal Page, Google Scholar or PubMed

In our database you will also find him as an author on many more papers.

Media

He has given many talks:

• Psychedelic Medicines: A Paradigm Shift Towards Transformation-Based Psychiatry (Insight conference | MIND foundation, 2019)
• Milan Scheidegger: Psilocybin & Mindfulness in a Meditation Retreat Setting (Psychedelic Science conference | MAPS, 2017)
• Transformational psychotherapy (SAPAS, 2017)

More media:

• Transformative Psychotherapy | Dr. Milan Scheidegger on how psychedelics can improve mental health (MIND foundation, 2020)
• Mindfulness Meditation Enhances Positive Effects of Psilocybin (University of Zürich, 2019)
• Integrating ayahuasca into western healthcare: an interview with Milan Scheidegger | part 1 (Philosophy for Life, 2018)
• Integrating ayahuasca into western healthcare | part 2 (Philosophy for Life, 2018)
• Psilocybin reduces psychological pain after social exclusion, study finds (ScienceDaily, 2017)
• Is Ketamine the Next Big Depression Drug? (Scientific American, 2013)