Award-winning author Steve Silberman has advanced the global dialogue about autism by promoting the simple truth that "great minds don't always think alike." His 2015 international bestseller Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently broke new ground by including the voices and experiences of autistic adults in its comprehensive history of autism and the autism rights movement. At the same time, the first MDMA-assisted therapy study for autistic adults who experience social anxiety was hitting its stride, and the inclusive approach of Silberman's book aided the investigators in building effective therapeutic rapport with the study participants.

During this engaging public talk, psychologist and researcher Dr. Alicia Danforth will share insights on how working with diverse populations and neurodivergent individuals in clinical research has challenged best practice standards for set and setting in psychedelic research, while Silberman will talk about how including the perspective of autistic adults was crucial for his historical research. After the talk, Silberman will sign copies of his book.

This event is an educational program of the CIIS Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research.

Samuel Johnson Prize 2015: Steve Silberman, BBC Arts - BBC Arts

Writer Steve Silberman talks about Neurotribes, his book about autism

Steve Silberman is an award-winning science writer whose articles have appeared in Wired, the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, the MIT Technology Review, Nature, Salon, Shambhala Sun, and many other publications. He is the author ofNeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently, which Oliver Sacks called a "sweeping and penetrating history... presented with a rare sympathy and sensitivity." The book became a widely-praised bestseller in the United States and the UnitedKingdom, and won the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, a California Book Award, and a Books for a Better Life Award.

Alicia Danforth, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Los Gatos, California. Since 2006, she has worked in clinical research at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on clinical studies for adults with anxiety related to advanced-stage cancer and with autistic adults who experience social anxiety. She is currently a lead clinician and supervisor for a clinical trial at UCSF for psychological distress in long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS. She attended the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, where she co-developed and taught the first graduate-level course on psychedelic theory, research, and clinical considerations for therapists and researchers in training.