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Monday, 21 January 2019

How to Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan

Basically a look at the history of psychedelic drugs in the U.S. , and an account of some personal experiences.
As a look at the actual psychedelic experience, there are other better books out there, the old classics by Huxley, etc.
In this book though, there are some very interesting facts:
- psychedelics (mostly LSD) were used by psychiatrists in the 50s and 60s to treat alcoholism and some other serious mental illnesses with considerable success
- there was a lot of research done on this topic - for political reasons, during the late 60s, this all ended when these drugs were listed as restricted.
- psychiatrists are now again looking at using these drugs to treat alcoholism and other addictions, depression, anxiety
- the counterculture use of these drugs as spiritual tools has never really died out, just gone underground - there are people who work as guides for this kind of experience if you are interested

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