Tim Ferriss, author and psychedelic philanthropist, on his healing journey after childhood abuse
Like many people, I first came across Tim Ferriss through his bestselling book The 4-hour Workweek, a book that "teaches you how to escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich". When I first came across the book in around 2010, I remember thinking that Tim seemed like a masterful self-promoter but not much more, and back then, I may not have been that far off the mark.
Fast-forward 10 years, and Tim Ferriss has since become one of my favourite famous/semi-famous people. I have benefited a great deal over the intervening years from his podcast, The Tim Ferris Show, and have been increasingly impressed by how he has used his platform to promote good causes and bring benefit to people in a variety of different ways. But even more than that, however, I have really been struck by how much he has thrown himself into psychedelic philanthropy.
Much of the $17 million of funding to found the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research was driven by Tim Ferriss, with Tim himself contributing $2 million. Tim was also one of the five founding donors who together put up $4 million to found the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. These are the two leading psychedelic research centres in the world. Most recently, Tim donated $1 million and was the key figure in organising the MAPS Capstone Challenge, the completion of which raised the necessary funds to begin phase 3 clinical trial for MDMA as a treatment for PTSD.
While this all makes sense at the level of following promising funding avenues within the sphere of mental health, I had slightly wondered why Tim was focusing on this cause in particular. I had perhaps thought that Tim, as per usual, was some way 'ahead of the curve' and was simply excited about the promise of the research. Or perhaps, like most of us, he had family members with lived experience of mental health problems or significant psychological suffering.
It turns out that at least part of the motivation is even more personal than that. In what for me is an admirably honest, practical and hope-giving podcast episode, in conversation with his friend Debbie Millman, he discusses his experience of healing from childhood sexual abuse. A key tool in his process was psychedelics. The full episode is available here, and the show notes also include an extensive list of trauma-related resources. May you be well, Tim.