- On the occasion of the entry into the new decade, 20 Minutes devotes a series of articles to the 2020s, new crazy years.
- For Michael Pollan, author of Voyage to the Ends of the Spirit (quanto), psychedelics could help get out of the mental health crisis.
- Psilocybin (the main psychoactive compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms) seems to be a real alternative to the treatments that exist today to treat mental illnesses.
A hundred years later, the “roaring twenties” are coming back to the tips of their noses. From the “roaring twenties” [the roaring 1920s], carried by a creative euphoria and an almost fanatic belief in the industrial revolution, we are entering the “worrying twenties”, as the big study called it. from Ipsos "Trend Obs 2020". All week long, 20 Minutes explores the future loved ones that await us by 2030.
On the menu for the decade: disenchantment, existential distress and fantasy of the apocalypse. In this episode, Michael Pollan, author of Voyage to the Ends of the Spirit , explains how psychedelics could make us happier.
We are entering the Roaring New Years. In the first sense of the word, this time. Faced with a society increasingly concerned by the climate emergency, blinded by the digital revolution and plagued by mental disorders of all kinds (anxiety, burnout, depression, addictions ...), the parallel with the 1920s is almost too obvious.
As our civilization experiences an unprecedented mental health crisis (according to the WHO, more than 300 million people suffer from depression worldwide), journalist and essayist Michael Pollan publishes Voyage to the Ends of the Spirit , an investigation on the medical potential of psychedelics. Is psilocybin (the main psychoactive compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms) the salvation of a society sinking into madness? Interview.
Why are psychedelic therapies more promising than any we have known so far?
It should be noted that we are experiencing a global mental health crisis. Depression, suicide, addiction are increasing and the treatments we have today, the antidepressants, are not working as well as they used to. Most mental health medications only attack the symptoms, not the causes, and they are limited. If we compare treatments for mental health to those of other branches of medicine (oncology, cardiology, infections), the latter have prolonged life and reduced suffering significantly. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of mental health. There is a huge need for innovation and psychedelics represent a new approach.
“I spoke with people with cancer who were fighting the fear of death (…). After a single psilocybin experience, in many cases, they were no longer afraid of death ”
How are these therapies revolutionary?
I'm specifically talking about psilocybin, which is the most common psychedelic. It is the ingredient of hallucinogenic mushrooms. It is quite close to LSD but the effect is shorter. It is non-toxic - there is no lethal dose - and it is not addictive, unlike psychiatric drugs. There is no longer any question of swallowing a tablet until the end of one's life, a single dose or two is necessary. The idea is not to change the chemical composition of the brain, but to offer a powerful mental experience that seems to change the way people look at their lives and their behavior. In many cases, psilocybin does not only treat the symptom, but also the cause. It not only helps you to feel better, it offers you new perspectives. I spoke with people with cancer who were fighting fear of death, anxiety and depression. After a single psilocybin experience, in many cases, they were no longer afraid of death.
You say that these therapies work because they allow you to visualize thoughts. Is this the only way to have this type of experience?
We are not sure how it works. Some people explain that they have had a new perception of themselves. They saw each other with more distance. Some of their behavior seemed stupid to them (smoking or drinking) and they felt able to stop. The ideas you have during the experience appear to be truths, not just a subjective opinion but an objective truth. Many smokers have told me, "I realized that smoking is stupid. So I didn't want to do it anymore. ” This idea seems obvious, it has crossed many minds before, but it was more robust with psychedelics. Through scanners, we observe that the brain is temporarily rewired, all thought patterns disappear for a while and new patterns are formed. Some speak of a reboot of the mind, as if you were unplugging a computer when it bugged. It may be a jolt the mind needed. It is interesting to observe that psychedelics are particularly effective on mental illnesses which share a characteristic: rigidity of thought. Spirits that are stuck in ruminating loops. It would seem that they are released from it, at least for some time, in order to give them new perspectives.
You explain in your book that these therapies work for the depressed for a while and then the depression can come back. Can we really consider that they work in this case?
We do not know. This is one of the questions addressed by the great experiment carried out in Europe and the United States. Early research by Empire College in London showed that depression returned after several months, but not as severely as before. Perhaps the psilocybin experiment should be repeated every six months. We do not know how long the effects may last or whether psilocybin will work on all types of depression. But it can prevent suicide, for example. I interviewed a woman for my book, an American who lives in London. She has been depressed for thirty years, without interruption. And she lived a whole month without her depression. Even if the depression returned, this experience changed it because she understood that it was possible not to be depressed. She was again convinced that she should continue to seek treatment. For depression, it may be necessary to consider regular maintenance, but in the case of addictions, the effects are often permanent.
"I do not believe that by giving this drug to Donald Trump, he would become a more environmentally friendly man"
You say that meditation has the same effects on the brain as psilocybin. Why not do meditation directly?
Some people use meditation to get rid of their addictions. There is a study on cigarettes that uses, I believe, meditation. This practice seems to produce brain states similar to psilocybin and a similar phenomenology in relation to the ego and in the dissolution of the ego. But before becoming good at meditation, it takes years. You might think that psychedelics are a shortcut to the same state as meditation, but some of them are in crisis.
Our era is increasingly anxious about the climate emergency and the idea of a collapse of civilization. Can we think that society is experiencing "existential distress" similar to the one you describe for people with cancer? Are these therapies our salvation to approach the future?
It's true, the whole culture is in a state of existential distress on the issue of climate. There is an increase in intolerance, racism and xenophobia. Psychedelics help from an individual point of view. One take of psilocybin changes your attitude to the natural world, one of the most striking discoveries in recent research. Patients feel more connected to nature and this is exactly the kind of turning point in consciousness that we would need to save the planet. But how do you administer a drug, a psychedelic experience, to an entire civilization? This is an interesting question. Would it work on a person who does not lean in this direction at all? I do not believe that by giving this drug to Donald Trump, he would become a more environmentally friendly man.
Are we about to see these therapies commercially?
Psychedelic therapies are likely to be available to treat depression, addiction, anxiety, behavioral disorders, a whole range of mental disorders in the next ten years. Regulators such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States encourage research. They also recognize the need to find new tools to treat mental illness and there are very few in the pipeline.
What obstacles remain to be overcome?
There are many challenges. The obstacles could be economic. How can the pharmaceutical industry make money on a drug that cannot be patented? Psilocybin is found in nature. And even if there had been a patent in the past, it would have ended. Same for LSD. Likewise, for psychotherapists, a lot of psychotherapeutic support is needed during the experience. You don't just take a pill and then go home. You are prepared by two therapists who stay with you throughout the session, it can take six to eight hours and when you come to your senses the next day you discuss the experience, you try to make sense of what happened to you. This represents about twenty hours of psychotherapy, this is not common. Instead of a session with the psychotherapist every week, it is a big implication for three or four days. And maybe nothing after that. Finally, a reversal as we saw in the 1960s could happen again. The whole culture could turn against psychedelics and cut short the search. It is possible, but it is hardly possible. If there is a case of suicide, for example, the public might react in fear.
You talk about a global mental health crisis. Are we sinking into a world in distress?
Look at youth today. I teach at two universities, Berkeley and Harvard, and the demand for psychological counseling is staggering. Young people are facing the climate crisis, the pressure of social networks, injunctions on the Web, what is called “fear of missing out”. And economic pressure. According to the latest figures, there are 330 million cases of depression worldwide, half of them are resistant to treatment. Depression is the most important cause of disability. It costs society a fortune to cure mental illness. We must approach mental health with the same seriousness as cancer treatments. And these psychedelic therapies couldn't have come at a better time.
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