Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Ben Askins (PA-C, MDiv) has an eclectic background with degrees in Outdoor Education, Intercultural Studies, Physician Assistant Studies, and Divinity. He has nearly two decades of experience practicing and teaching wilderness, tactical, and expeditionary medicine in the military. In civilian life, he is a Psychiatric Physician Assistant with extensive experience providing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and a certification with the Multidisciplinary Association on Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Ben is a National Outdoor Leadership School alum, a veteran of the Global War on Terrorism, and has completed postgraduate training in Neuropsychiatry and Genomics.
Anti-Hero's Journey is the online home of psychedelic science war storyteller Captain Ben "Doc" Askins, Ph.D. (Hon.) Doc is no one. He is Banksy’s erudite elder brother, a Deadpool wannabe, and the Shadow of the world’s most interesting man. When artificial intelligence has a fever dream, it dreams of being Doc. He is a son, brother, husband, father, veteran, psycho, therapist, and friend. He is the grinning embodiment of the Duchenne marker, all of his lies are true, and he writes his books with tears in his eyes for you and only you.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your story?
Hi. I’m Ben Askins, but all my favorite people call me “Doc.” Which is confusing because I’m not a doctor. I have a medical license, but I’m a Physician Assistant. I have an Honorary Ph.D., but that’s actually just a title some institutions give away as an honor, even though I’ve never earned a terminal degree.
All my favorite people call me “Doc” because I was a combat medic for over a decade, including one tour in Iraq as a platoon sergeant. I came home and used my GI Bill to go to seminary and earned a Master of Divinity degree. To be honest, I was always a much better soldier than a preacher, though, so I was glad when Uncle Sam sent me to the Interservice Physician Assistant Program a couple of years later so I could get a license to practice medicine.
Straight out of Physician Assistant school, I went into psychiatry, and one month later a global pandemic shut down the world. For two years thereafter, I had the opportunity to perform hundreds of ketamine-assisted therapy sessions with many acutely suicidal people. During a time when being hospitalized could have been a death sentence, I had the privilege of helping a few people find hope. Then I got called up again for a deployment to Europe last year. Three months after returning home, I received a certificate from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Now, while we all wait for America’s political leaders to catch up with Australia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Brazil and legalize psychedelic medicines, I work with my collaborating physician friends to provide ketamine-assisted therapy for depression, PTSD, and acute suicidality (among other things). I’m the Psychedelic Science War Storyteller. To paraphrase the words of General James “Chaos” Mattis during the invasion of Iraq twenty years ago, “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you fuck with me, I’ll heal you all.” I’m polite. I’m professional. And I have a plan to help everybody I meet.
Can you tell us how this started for you? What led you onto this journey?
Thank you for asking that. Let me tell you a story.
While I was in Physician Assistant training in the military, I received news that an old friend - a fellow veteran - had died by suicide. He was a tough guy with a big grin and a quick laugh. A husband and a father. We had a lot in common. The news gutted me. During my shift in the emergency room a couple of days later, a woman was brought in via ambulance for an intentional drug overdose. I knew how to intubate and stabilize her before admitting her to intensive care, but only time would tell how much brain function she might recover. I knew what to do for someone after they attempted suicide in order to keep them alive, but the prognosis, if they recover from that first attempt, is grim—both medically and psychologically.
Hands still shaking from the stress and excitement of her case, I went into another room to meet with her family. Her husband was about my age. Her daughter was the same age as one of my little girls. I was gutted all over again. Something inside of me shifted while I was sitting in that room with that grieving family a few days after losing my friend to the same problem. I decided at that moment – with that man who could have been me and that little girl who could have been my daughter – that I was going to work in mental health to heal trauma and prevent suicide. I had absolutely no idea how to do it, but I was committed to the journey.
Now I’ve got a lot of ideas. And a lot of friends. And we’re going to heal the whole world. One way or another. So you can get on the bus or get under it. (Don’t worry. If you get in the way and get run over, we’ll circle back around, pick you up and heal you, too... eventually).
So, let’s cut the bullshit, America. If you have a mind, you’re going to have mental health struggles at one time or another. Which means you’re going to need help at one time or another. So can we please get off each other’s necks and just let each other breathe a little bit? We’ve all been through a lot lately. Can we help each other out? Pretty please? I’m on a journey with my friends to get to what MAPS Founder Rick Doblin calls “net-zero trauma” on Earth by 2070. And we’re always looking for more friends.
So “net-zero trauma”? What does that mean?
I’m glad you asked about net-zero trauma. We’ll get there with a two-pronged approach:
Prevent trauma through local, regional, national and international peace-making and diplomacy.
Promote healing through psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies.
Net-zero trauma via a balance of trauma prevention and trauma recovery. The math is easy. The work is hard. But it’s worth it. We’re going to protect and heal everybody. Now some of your readers might be thinking that 2070 is an ambitious timeline for healing the whole planet, but they don’t understand who we’re talking about here. Some of my friends have “been around the world twice, talked to everyone once” if you know what I mean. The planet’s not actually that big. I think we can get it done by 2030. If I’m wrong, I’m happy to split the difference with Rick.
I mean, some rich geniuses are trying to figure out how to abandon ship and go colonize Mars. Fuck all that weakass sci-fi hero’s journey bullshit. You and me and all the other nobodies will take care of each other and heal our home planet. To paraphrase the legendary Colonel William O. Darby, “Onward we stagger and if the UFOs come, then God help the UFOs.”
So if our political leaders could take a commercial break from their partisan politics reality TV show just long enough to legalize psychedelic-assisted therapy, then my friends and I can get to work healing all the wounds still festering from the last couple hundred years of American history. Colorado, Oregon, California, and Kentucky are all figuring it out. Hell, if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Dan Crenshaw can see eye-to-eye on the matter, then the rest of America will have no problem.
Wow, well, thank you for all of that info about yourself, your friends, and your plans. I know you’ve recently started a company and launched a brand called Anti-Hero’s Journey. And you’ve published a book or two as well. Many of our readers will be familiar with the famous concept of “the Hero’s Journey” from scholar Joseph Campbell’s work. But what exactly is the Anti-Hero’s Journey?
First off, I feel like I have to be honest with you and your readers about me and about this journey I’m on. I’m not one of the good guys. I’m not a hero. Never have been, never will be. But I’m not really a bad guy either. It’s just not that simple. I have a lot of pain, even more joy, limitless love, and absolutely no fear. Ask anyone who knows me.
If you want to join me on this Anti-Hero’s Journey, then get on the bus. Everyone - and I mean everyone - is welcome. Anti-Hero’s Journey is a trauma integration guide and my life story... and it’s honestly a lot more than that. It’s hard to describe, but I’ll give it a shot. Honestly, I lived it and I wrote it and I still don’t understand it, so if you want to read it and help me figure it out, I’d appreciate it. Psychedelic medicines are still not legal in most of America and there’s a lot of stigma surrounding their history and use as well. So a lot of people are writing books about psychedelic medicines. My book is a psychedelic medicine.
I’ll say that again more slowly: Anti-Hero’s Journey is a psychedelic medicine. No side effects, no risk of losing control. I’m not lying or exaggerating. Ask anyone who’s read it. It’s a trip, no doubt. But it’s also only a book. If your vision gets a little blurry or you start to feel some overwhelming emotions, just put the book down and take some time for yourself. No other psychedelic out there offers you that option. Just follow the instructions and the stories in the book all the way to enlightenment...
Hurry up and get some extra copies for your friends. Get some for your enemies, too. Watch how many of them become your friends after reading it. I’m not kidding. I’m as serious as a cancer diagnosis. You’ll see what I mean. You wouldn’t even believe how much fun I have planned for you, America. “I swear to God I’d be so good to ya...”
If you found this article interesting, you might enjoy some of my other psychedelic science war stories at AntiHerosJourney.com. Or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Threads to join the conversation about the psychedelic science research renaissance.
