5 Ways Michael Pollan Destigmatized Psychedelics

• By Sam Woolfe
• February 28, 2022February 5, 2024
• Michael Pollan psychedelic drugs psychedelic therapy psychedelics psychedelics treatment
• With 3 comments

The author and journalist Michael Pollan has become renowned for writing on the subject of food and agriculture, in books like The Botany of Desire (2001), The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006), In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008), Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2009), and Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013).

So when he published a book on psychedelics, this was considered a huge deviation in his interests, although he was in a sense still writing about what we consume: the plants and mushrooms that alter our consciousness.

This book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (2018), became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller. Pollan’s book has also been credited with helping to mainstream and destigmatize psychedelics as therapy. But while he highlights the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy, he is certainly not an evangelist. Instead, he is honest about the downsides, too.

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How Michael Pollan Has Helped To Destigmatize Psychedelics

Pollan has helped to play a crucial role in challenging the negative perceptions of psychedelics.

1. Pollan Was Already Trusted As A Legitimate Source Of Information

First, it’s worth noting that Pollan was already a well-established journalist and author before using and writing about psychedelics. Well, he did experiment with psychedelics in his 20s. But it wasn’t until his early 60s that he decided to seriously explore the psychedelic experience.

Furthermore, it’s not as if he jumped into the experience throwing caution to the wind. As he said, “I was a very reluctant psychonaut.”

Pollan’s role as a legitimate, trusted, popular, and much-loved writer allowed many people to take him seriously when he turned to the subject of psychedelics. He took the same approach he did as when writing his other books: in-depth research combined with first-hand experience.

How to Change Your Mind includes up-to-date scientific research on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and honest accounts of his experiences, some of which were deeply meaningful and transformative.

Therefore, the book might have encouraged some readers to challenge their suspicion of people who use psychedelics and instead see them as a promising option for people who are suffering, or who lack a spiritual dimension in their life.

2. In-Depth Research On Psychedelics

Following on the last point, Pollan’s work has made many people realize that psychedelics can be highly effective in the treatment of a range of conditions. He describes the growing pool of research suggesting that psychedelics may be a useful tool in the treatment of cancer-related anxiety, depression, alcoholism, and smoking addiction.

Millions of people worldwide struggle with these conditions. The problem with current treatments is that they often don’t work for people. People with terminal illnesses don’t find the relief from anxiety they’re looking for.

A lot of depression is treatment-resistant, meaning that traditional approaches have not helped. Struggling alcoholics may get sober, only to relapse later on. And a smoking habit can be especially hard to kick.

However, Pollan highlights research showing impressive improvements in symptoms and recovery rates following psychedelic therapy, as well as sustained changes.

Moreover, these results come from reputable, placebo-controlled trials, with participants not suffering any adverse long-term effects from the treatment. This helps people to see that psychedelic therapy is not a highly risky option with limited benefits.

Apart from his book, Pollan has published information on his website about the risks of psychedelics. His aspects include the following.

• General safety
• Emergency room visits
• Toxicity and overdose
• Physical harms caused by changes in perception/judgment
• Serious mental health issues
• Bad trips
• So-called “flashbacks” (now known as Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, or HPPD).

Based on the overall picture of the data, the risk of suffering any serious or long-term negative effects from psychedelics is low. This is especially true in comparison with other drugs.

The most common adverse reaction to psychedelics is a bad trip. But studies have still shown that a large percentage of people find these experiences meaningful and spiritually significant.

RELATED: The Stigma Of Psychedelics – Why ‘Illegal’ Doesn’t Always Mean ‘Dangerous’

3. Sharing Positive Experiences

Michael Pollan appeared on a number of popular podcasts, such as The Tim Ferriss Show, The Kevin Rose Show, and The Joe Rogan Experience, as well as mainstream shows like ITV News and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

During these interviews, he didn’t just talk about psychedelic research. He also shared his personal experiences with compounds like psilocybin, LSD, and 5-MeO-DMT. For his trips, he had underground psychedelic guides or therapists present with him.

When appearing on The Late Show, Pollan said the following about a powerful trip he had with psilocybin mushrooms:

“I had this experience of ego dissolution. My sense of self fell apart. It was like a bunch of post-its being blown in the wind. And then I saw myself out on the landscape like paint. But I was still seeing it. I was experiencing it from a new vantage that wasn’t my usual self… We assume we’re identical to our ego, this chattering voice in our heads… it defends us against fresh experience, against emotion, against other people… That dissolved in such a way that I felt like, oh, I’m not identical to my ego. There’s another ground on which to stand.

… It’s really the idea that these defenses you’ve built up over your whole life, you don’t need them… you can lower them and not face complete annihilation.”

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4. Michael Pollan’s Experience With Ego Dissolution

This experience of ego dissolution was positive for Pollan, as it ultimately tends to be for patients undergoing psychedelic therapy. Some people might think it’s scary to lose their sense of self — and it certainly can be. But many researchers believe this kind of experience is partly what is driving the benefits of treatment.

Michael Pollan has described listening to Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor during a psilocybin experience. He has done so before many times, mostly at funerals.

But in his altered state, he remarks that this piece of music “had the unmistakable effect of reconciling me to death — to the deaths of the people now present to me, Bob’s and Ruthellen’s and Roy’s, Judith’s father’s, and so many others, but also to the deaths to come and to my own, no longer so far off.”

This echoes research showing that psychedelics — and the music you listen to while on them — can have profound effects. This is why set and setting is so important.

RELATED: Opinion: Current Psychedelic Therapies Use Flawed Models of the Mind – It’s Time for Relational Therapy

5. Michael Pollan Is Honest About The Downsides Of Psychedelics

The issue of psychedelic stigma does need to be addressed, but there’s a danger in going to the other extreme. This includes only looking at the positives of psychedelic therapy, and none of the potential downsides or risks.

Challenging Experiences

Not all of Michael Pollan’s psychedelic journeys were wholly positive.

After smoking 5-MeO-DMT, which comes from the dry venom of the Sonoran Desert toad, Pollan reports feeling terror, as if a violent storm blasts him away. He watched reality collapse around him, leaving him in an unfamiliar and horrible nothingness. Eventually, reality and his sense of self returned. When the experience was over, he felt immense relief.

It’s important that Pollan is willing to speak about the negative and overwhelming side of psychedelics as well. People should avoid thinking that psychedelic therapy is going to be easy, calm, and full of joy and euphoria throughout.

When using potent psychedelics like 5-MeO-DMT and DMT (which may have therapeutic applications), as well as psilocybin and ayahuasca, people should know that the experiences may be challenging, at least during part of them.

Mental Health Issues That Don’t Mix Well With Psychedelics

It’s important to avoid thinking that psychedelic therapy is a mental health panacea, as these substances may worsen some mental health issues.

As Pollan has stated, “If you are at risk of schizophrenia or it’s in your family or [you] have some kind of personality disorder, they will not let you in a drug trial. They screen pretty carefully.”

In rare instances, a psychedelic trip can set off a psychotic break.

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