How To Change Your Mind Author Michael Pollan Shares His Vision For The Future Of Psychedelics And His Projects In The Field

The documentary series “How To Change Your Mind” premiered on July 12 on Netflix, based on Michael Pollan’s eponymous book. Pollan, who is also the co-founder of the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP), provided a press event focused on the present state of psychedelic research, its expected FDA approval for mental health treatment, opportunities and challenges for the future, and the role of psychedelics in culture and society.

What Is The Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics Up To?

Pollan was accompanied by BCSP executive director Imran Khan, assistant professor Andrea Gomez and associate professor Tina Trujillo. The speakers explained the work led by the BCSP, which includes the upcoming launch of a Certificate Program in Psychedelic Facilitation for healthcare professionals in ministry, medicine, nursing, mental health counseling, psychiatry and social work, as well as a novel evidence-based website and weekly newsletter publications covering developments in the psychedelic arena.

Pollan recalled that his work on psychedelic science began almost seven years ago, fueled by his belief in the potential of these substances to relieve a great deal of suffering and to “help us explore the mind and the brain.” 

The author also explained that the idea for the creation of the BCSP came when he was reporting for his book “How To Change Your Mind,” in 2016 and 2017. “I interviewed several scientists on campus, particularly in the psychology department, people who knew a lot about psychedelics or were really interested in them. And when I asked them ‘Well, why don’t you study them?,’ they would say things like the reputational risk was too great.”

By 2019 or 2020, Pollan said that all that had apparently changed—and not only at Berkeley. “Studying psychedelics was becoming respectable. Indeed, urgent, because of the severity of the mental health crisis. So in these conversations, which involved people in neuroscience and psychology primarily, attention turned to what we could do here at Berkeley that could add to the work already going on at other places like Johns Hopkins and NYU.”

Berkeley began conducting “basic science” studies involving understanding how psychedelics have the effects they have, why they are effective in various mental health disorders treatments, and what psychedelics might teach about issues like perception, predictive processing, belief change and brain plasticity.

Another major task the BCSP directed its efforts to is training facilitators. As Pollan explained, “estimates show we will need 100,000 psychedelic facilitators once psilocybin and MDMA are approved by the FDA, which is expected to happen within the next five years or so.”

And lastly, the author believes public education “and good journalism” on the topic are needed: “People are curious, but also confused about psychedelics. Many people still have a lot of baggage from the sixties in their heads.” So the center’s public education program aims at providing “solid, evidence-based information to clear up all the misconceptions” and serve all those watching the Netflix series who are wondering whether psychedelics would be suitable for themselves or for their loved ones.

The State Of Psychedelics Today 

Pollan called non-profit MAPS’ work as “pivotal” and believes that MDMA “will probably be the first substance to be approved by the FDA in this group of so-called psychedelics,” most likely within the next two years. “Last year’s phase 3 results in the MDMA trials were very encouraging, showing that two thirds of the trauma patients actually lost their diagnoses of trauma by the cap score,” Pollan stated.

On the other hand, neurobiologist Andrea Gomez posited that, by harnessing the power of gene-editing technologies such as Berkeley born-CRISPR, there is a potential for understanding which genes are activated by psychedelics, how they change the brain, and whether it is possible to edit them.

When asked about the psychiatry field, Tina Trujillo believes that it is rapidly shifting, “learning about the potential of these medicines” with “caution and great curiosity.”  

In Pollan’s view, there’s a “striking” openness, and the reason involved is “a frank recognition on the part of psychiatry that they are not having a lot of success,”  failing to expand lifespan and to cure these diseases.

Are Psychedelics At Risk?

Regarding backlash risks, Pollan believes that the fact that sometimes people get hurt by using these substances could revive some of the sixties’ narratives, yet he thinks “we are in a different place,” as “history doesn’t repeat itself exactly.” He hopes that we are now more aware of the risks entailing the use of psychedelics. 

Trujillo also called for a more attentive look at the traditional sociocultural contexts on which the substances had been used previously. 

Related to contextualizing psychedelics, Pollan referred to the fact that there isn’t yet a business plan to make psychedelic therapy profitable. “It’s gonna be very tricky to fit it into the system we have, because it isn’t just a drug. The guiding, the talk therapy, is just as important as the chemical, and it is a package. And we don’t have a model for that. Mental health in America is basically about pills, there’s limited support for psychotherapy.” 

That is, how will psychotherapists deal with seeing patients not once a week but intensively, for several hours of preparation, session, and integration afterwards? “That’s gonna be very expensive. And for people working on the pill-end, how are you gonna make money when you’re only gonna sell an individual one or two or maybe three pills over the course of their lives?” 

Photo Courtesy of Olia Danilevich on Pexels.