Book Review: "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan

I had the entirely wrong idea about this book. I was reading on my phone when I finished the last book and wanted to start a new one. Thus, I quickly bought this on the cheap and started reading. I thought it was going to be about changing your mind, like actually changing it by using therapy techniques and the like. It's about LSD and psychedelics. But it's also about depression, anxiety, dying, terror, mythologies of humanity etc. Interesting and actually pretty well-written - I have absolutely no regrets of not reading the blurb when it came to this book even though I don't particularly agree with everything within. Let's take a look at what it is about then...

One thing I enjoyed about this book is that it takes psychedelic research seriously. In experiments mentioned like the 'Good Friday Experiment' in which controlled groups of people were given psychedelics and then were more likely, on Good Friday in church, to report having a 'religious experience' was quite interesting to read about. However, there are a lot of holes the author pokes in the experiment, such as the over zealous nature of the researchers in an experiment where they should really be trying their utmost to be impartial. The author writes the experiment initially with enthusiasm but then starts to break it down for us so that we too, can notice what was bubbling beneath the surface.

However, one thing I do have to say is that I don't like the way the author states with certainty that LSD and psychedelics creates these religious experiences. Of course, if you give these things to folks who are already open to experiencing it, it will happen. But perhaps giving them to someone who has no interest in them, or in fact has some sort of dangerous mental health disorder - things could go differently. The certainty definitely sounds very 'hippy' and less scientific and there are probably some holes the reader could poke in that themselves.

The author writes about how the funding for psychedelic research slowly dried up and eventually, it became junk science just by the fact that it was no longer something trendy. He looks at examples of certain people who were disgraced because of their confidence in psychedelics and talks about how it was actually probably less about the actual research and more about finding solutions to certain problems and then using confirmation bias to prove them. Not only does the author admit that this was possibly some important research, but he also admits that perhaps these scientists of the time were not the best people to carry the research out because of their over zealous beliefs in the power of psychedelics.

As the book continues, we get various acceptances of psychedelics which have brought them back to the forefront of research. The author admits to enjoying the fact that they are getting more attention again after having been banned in the United States for so long and funding basically being non-existent. Though they are still banned, there's some wiggle room for researching their impacts on health. One of the major pieces of research originally was that psychedelics could be used to treat people who were chronically addicted to mainstream drugs and alcohol. However, to think that we can have a 'higher state of consciousness' because you like the sound of psychedelics being used for mental health and repairing the mind means that you yourself are probably over-zealous about them. I'm not convinced that there can be anything more than our current consciousness and no amount of LSD is going to make me believe otherwise.

The whole love and hippy stuff sort of ruins the book for me because I was expecting a bit more scientific research rather than commentary on consciousness and the idea that love makes the world go around (no, it does not). I know the author once thought himself a rationalist as well, but many if not most of us are never going to be sold on the idea of this trippy drug being something to look forward to. Instead, it seems like a waste of money in the grand scheme of things - there are more important things to do than sit around in drum circles telling everyone how much you love them.

All in all, I did enjoy this book to a degree and it did surprise me when it came to the points it made. I don't want to say too much or we'll be here all day. Again, I might write something longer about it in the future but for now know this: it's a great book when it comes to the science but when it comes to all the love and hippy stuff, I can honestly say that it falls down a steep hill. Love does not make the world go around and it's almost juvenile to think so.