How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics by Michael Pollan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Overall a great primer on the current state of inquiry into the legitimacy of psychedelics (largely psilocybin and LSD) as a form a mental health treatment. The book did drag a bit in the beginning, but that might have been because I’m familiar with the topic and found all of the foundation that Pollan was laying to be superfluous.
Despite being a hope-filled book, it left a bad taste in my mouth (much like mushrooms would, so I’ve heard). The reason is not Pollan’s fault: at the current rate of acceptance, I (as a “healthy normal”) probably won’t legally be able to explore these solutions until I’m in my 60s (if even then)! Which leaves me with the frustrating choice of either:
- continuing to be a law-abiding citizen and ‘losing’ a few decades (wherein, arguably, these kinds of treatment could do me the most good),
- going rogue, somehow tracking down how to explore these treatments, but entering the moral grey area of breaking all kinds of laws, or
- pretending that there isn’t something incredibly valuable to be gained here and going on my merry way.
After reading (in this book and in others) about all of the ways in which these treatments are a no-brainer, it’s more than a little frustrating to have this dilemma as my takeaway.