LSD

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SethInMI

Last month Terry had Michael Pollan on to talk about his new book, "The new science of psychedelics". Interesting listen, I am sure the book would answer your questions.

Pollan was also on Bill Maher's show this past Friday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhC3L1ZKxHU

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[SethInMI 174]

SethInMI

Last month Terry had Michael Pollan on to talk about his new book, "The new science of psychedelics". Interesting listen, I am sure the book would answer your questions.

I also see there is a transcript of the interview https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=611225541

POLLAN: Exactly right. The drugs foster new perspectives on old problems. You know, one of the things our mind does is tell stories about ourselves. And if you're depressed, you're being told a story, perhaps, that you're worthless, that no one, you know, could possibly love you, you're not worthy of love, that life will not get better. And these stories, which are enforced by our egos, really, trap us in these ruminative loops that are very hard to get out of. They're very destructive patterns of thought.

What the drugs appear to do is disable for a period of time the part of the brain where the self talks to itself. And it's called the default mode network. And it's a structure - it's not a structure. It's a group of structures that connect parts of the cortex - the evolutionarily most-recent part of the brain - to deeper levels where emotion and memory reside. And it's a very important hub in the brain, and lots of important things happen there - self-reflection and rumination, time travel - it's where we go to think about the future or the past - and theory of mind, the ability to imagine the mental states of other beings - and I think most importantly, the autobiographical self. It's the part of the brain, it appears, where we incorporate things that happen to us - new information - with a sense of who we are, who we were and who we want to be. And that's where these stories get generated.

And these stories can be really destructive. They trap us. And what happens - and this was a big surprise with the modern period of research - that - was that this network is downregulated. It sort of goes offline for a period of time. And that's why you experience this dissolution of self or ego, which is a quite - can be a terrifying or a liberating thing depending on your mindset. And this is what allows people, I think, to have those new perspectives on themselves, to realize that they're - they needn't be trapped in those stories, and they might actually be able to write some new stories about themselves. And that's what's liberating, I think, about the experience when it works.

GROSS: So what is the state now of the psychological, therapeutic use of psychedelics?

It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".