REVIEWS
Michael Pollan’s ‘How to Change Your Mind’
And the Therapeutic Effects of Plant-Based Psychedelics
I’m a big fan of most of Michael Pollan’s books, such as This Is Your Mind on Plants, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. I’m both a plant person and a healthcare person, and I’ve studied mental health counseling. So when How to Change Your Mind came out I was pretty excited. Thank you, Michael Pollan and Netflix, for this new, comprehensive, four-part documentary on the mind-altering realm of plant medicine.
Based on the book of the same name, the series begins with a longish segment on the history of LSD and, in my opinion, an off-putting simulation of what it’s like to experience an acid trip. No thank you. But I had faith and I hung in there — and not long when the documentary abruptly shifts into the therapeutic effects of plant-based psychedelics — including micro-dosing — it felt a lot like coming home.
From LSD to psilocybin, MDMA to mescaline, magic mushrooms to peyote, the series covers the origin, history, use, and therapeutic success of a variety of psychedelics, both those found in nature, and their derivatives, synthesized in the lab. One of the things I found most interesting was the strong interest in and therapeutic use of psychedelics in treating mental health…
