Self-studio, 2nd edition.
Dr Paul Liknaitzky’s serpentine journey to psychedelic research.
Dr Paul Liknaitzky, Research Fellow within Monash University School of Psychological Sciences and Dept of Psychiatry, head of the Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab, examines mechanisms of mental illness, developing treatments within mood disorder and addiction research.
From flying paragliders to being “kicked out of university libraries at midnight,” Dr Liknaitzky’s path to his vocation is nothing short of invigorating.
Being the deeply insightful fellow that he is, Liknaitzky recalls influences to his journey from as early as 8 years old. It was photographs of Buddhist monks meditating in the ancient city of Lhasa that “utterly mesmerised” young Liknaitzky.
“I would stare at these photographs in this one particular coffee table book… a little bit like I imagined my friends would have stared at photographs of Superman or Batman…”
Fast forward a bit over a decade, it became the fundamental questions of consciousness and suffering that peaked Liknaitzky’s interest, captivated by the interplay between knowledge and distress.
Liknaitzky completed an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Western Australia, followed by Honours in neuroscience and PhD in Psychology at Melbourne University.
Liknaitzky spent time travelling the world and working all over the place. Pursuing passions outside of academia, like paragliding.
Liknaitzky had a vast range of interests but like many of us, found challenge in narrowing down which interests he would like to pursue in an academic setting.
The excitement found in books of philosophy and mathematics led Liknaitzky to tertiary education in these fields. Halfway through his first year, Liknaitzky discovered the field of neuroscience — “I’d never heard of it, I just thought, wow! That floats my boat and I jumped into a Neuroscience degree”.
Liknaitzky dived into neuroscience with everything he had.
“I would often be kicked out of the library when it closed late at night. I felt like I was in communion with the dead…all these deceased thinkers being thrilled by ideas that were thrilling me”
Aspiring to work more closely with humans, Liknaitzky completed a PhD in psychology focusing on the role of certain kinds of altered states in alleviating distress.
Liknaitzky took a deep dive into literature surrounding induction methods of altered states. An early observation inspiring Liknaitzky’s PhD was that across numerous induction methods — whether consumption of a serotonergic agonist, deliberate use of attention, rituals, sensory deprivation or excess, extreme sports — these diverse processes seem to have commonalities in terms of subjective report and neurobiological change, including, crucially, reductions in certain kinds of psychopathology.
Liknaitzky states one of the most useful aspects of psychedelic induction (serotonergic agonist), as compared with other means, is that they are so reliable. “There is no other induction method that reliably produces a dramatic altered state of consciousness of this particular kind.”
Research of the 1950’s and 60’s showed promise for psychedelics in the treatment of mental illness when utilised in conjunction with psychotherapy, although studies of this era were often poorly controlled. Psychedelics were heavily politicised as their use became associated with countercultural movements, leading to prohibition and funding cuts to research.
Liknaitzky came out of his PhD interested in working with psychedelics in the treatment of mental illness, a field that grew dramatically over the course of his studies.
“History has rolled up beside me, the situation has developed so much socio-politically that my concerns of old world conservatism only five years ago have been largely replaced by concerns of new world evangelism. There is still stigma and prejudice, but there are issues on the very opposite end of the spectrum now that are even more pertinent to me.”
Liknaitzky feels that his role now includes “supporting a clinical context and empirical approach that makes space for a set of experiences that can be difficult to articulate and difficult to situate culturally, alongside conducting rigorous scientific research and deeply valuing the clarity of rational intellect.”
Now head of Monash University’s Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab, with adjunct appointments at various universities and hospitals, Dr Liknaitzky and his team are conducting high-quality research into psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for Generalised Anxiety Disorder and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder to explore the potential for these treatments.
Upon navigating decisions of what to approach academically, Liknaitzky gained valuable insight into the journey of interest exploration and development. Aspiring scientists fascinated by numerous aspects of our world will inevitably be faced with difficult decisions of this nature.
Asked for advice for a younger student, Liknaitzky proclaims that the developmental trajectory is such that we tend to become more narrow, strategic and performance-oriented over time. Encouraging me to
“explore the world, and the world of ideas, discover what truly floats your boat. This is likely to be something you become good at, something you can contribute to. There’s no better time to follow your interests than now.”
