Jordan Sloshower, MD, MSc

Psychiatrist

Jordan Sloshower, MD, MSc is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in integrative approaches to mental health. Having completed his medical and psychiatric training at Yale University, Dr. Sloshower possesses a solid foundation in conventional psychiatric and psychotherapeutic approaches. However, he brings a unique perspective and skillset to his work resulting from prior training in anthropology and global health, and deep interests in ethnobotany and alternative approaches to wellness, such as yoga and meditation. This informs Dr. Sloshower's holistic way of conceptualizing people as complex multilayered beings, with brain-minds, bodies, hearts, and spirits, all of which are connected to each other and to the natural and social environments.

Integrative psychiatry and psychedelic-assisted therapies

Dr. Sloshower's research and clinical interests focus on therapeutic applications of novel psychoactive substances, namely psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, and ketamine. Dr. Sloshower understands these medicines as acting on multiple levels of being, thereby possessing the potential for deep healing of root causes of distress and illness. Rather than suppressing symptoms, he seeks to facilitate people’s own healing work by utilizing these medicines in the context of psychotherapy and integrating such ‘medication-assisted therapies' into a broader approach to wellness and mental health. This may include elements such as diet, exercise, herbs, supplements, somatic therapies, nature therapy, and psychosocial interventions. As a psychotherapist, Dr. Sloshower blends elements of psychodynamic, acceptance and commitment (ACT), cognitive-behavioral (CBT), and mindfulness-based therapies.

Dr. Sloshower has received training in psychedelic therapy from Drs. Jeffrey Guss at New York University and Bill Richards at Johns Hopkins, and is completing training with MAPS in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. He is co-founder of the Yale Psychedelic Science Group and has presented at several conferences on psychedelic medicine.

View Dr. Sloshower’s presentation at the Psychedelic Science 2017 conference on Integrating Plant Medicines and Psychiatry.

Research

Dr. Sloshower is currently an addictions psychiatry research fellow at Yale University, where he is conducting a clinical trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy in the treatment of depression. This research is funded by the Heffter Research Institute and has been a collaborative effort with colleagues at Yale and New York University. The project investigates neurobiological and psychological mechanisms of action of psilocybin therapy and involves the development of a novel form of psilocybin therapy that incorporates elements of acceptance and commitment therapy.

For more information on Dr Sloshower’s clinical trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression: www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03554174

Background

Dr. Sloshower was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada and completed a master's degree in medical anthropology at the University of Edinburgh prior to entering medical school at Yale University. During his medical training, he pursued global health research and clinical opportunities in India, Nepal, Ecuador, Peru, and South Africa. He has traveled extensively in Central and South America and is conversant in Spanish. Outside the clinic, Dr. Sloshower enjoys spending time in nature, playing guitar, listening to music, and being with friends and family.