EssentialsEssentials
January 22, 2026

Essentials: Therapy, Treating Trauma & Other Life Challenges | Dr. Paul Conti

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In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, my guest is Dr. Paul Conti, MD, a psychiatrist and expert in treating trauma and psychiatric illness.

We explain what trauma is and how it affects the mind and body, as well as the best treatment approaches to support recovery. We also discuss why guilt and shame often follow traumatic experiences and why processing trauma is essential for healing. Dr. Conti shares practical tools for how to choose and work effectively with a therapist and discusses the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and MDMA in clinician-assisted settings.

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  • 00:00:00 Paul Conti
  • 00:00:21 What is Trauma?, Guilt & Shame
  • 00:03:20 Evolutionary Context of Trauma, Shame & Guilt
  • 00:07:18 Repetition Compulsion, Repeating Trauma
  • 00:11:08 Processing Trauma in Therapy or On Your Own, Grieving
  • 00:15:08 Introspection, Tool: Processing Trauma Through Words
  • 00:16:23 Finding a Therapist, Rapport; Duration of Therapy
  • 00:18:37 Prescriptions, Depression, Treating Core Issues
  • 00:21:16 Psychedelics & Overcoming Trauma, Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
  • 00:25:05 MDMA, Overcoming Fear
  • 00:27:01 Talking about Trauma, Language
  • 00:28:54 Taking Care of Oneself, Tool: Self-Care Basics
  • 00:32:14 Acknowledgements

This transcript is currently under human review and may contain errors. The fully reviewed version will be posted as soon as it is available.

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Huberman Lab Essentials

Dr. Paul Conti: Therapy, Treating Trauma & Other Life Challenges

Huberman Lab Essentials are short episodes focused on essential science and protocol takeaways from past full-length Huberman Lab episodes.

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