Summary

“The Trip Treatment: Psychedelics in Psychotherapy.” "Two: Addiction." Pollan begins this section of the book with an anecdotal reference to the experiences of astronauts who have flown into outer space, the experience having brought them in contact with a sense of how expansive the universe actually is; how small they (as individuals) actually are; and how it is possible to see everything as connected. All three shifts in perspective, Pollan adds, seem to be components of what helps alcoholics and other addicts rehabilitate themselves in the aftermath of an experience with a psychedelic: psychedelics, he says, trigger all three sorts of perception shifts, making the desire to self-destruct through addictions like smoking, drinking, and drug use seem both irrelevant and foolish. He cites several case studies of those who say they have changed their addictive habits after a psychedelic experience for exactly...