Netflix program shows medicine’s warm embrace of psychedelics

Research into the efficacious benefits of psychedelics moved into the medical mainstream with the airing of a Netflix documentary series based on Michael Pollan’s 2018 book, “How to Change Your Mind. ” The brother of actress Tracy Pollan, who is married to actor Michael J. Fox, wrote eloquently about the power of psychedelics in transforming psychiatric medicine and therapy, as well as general health and wellbeing. Healthcare practitioners are now embracing these ancient practices.

This is a huge leap forward considering the last time psychedelics went mainstream in 1960s counterculture, which resulted in years of stigma attached to what is finally being recognized by as cutting-edge technology in mental health and psychiatry. Ketamine clinics are starting to become available and accessible nationally as a viable medical treatment for various therapeutic needs. What’s so satisfying to me and other voices like mine who evangelize for the therapeutic, health and wellness benefits of psychedelics is how far this movement has come.

Now there’s a documentary series documentary centered around this seminal book on probably the world’s largest streaming service. And the way that it’s being brought into the public’s awareness is through psychotherapists and other medical practitioners. It’s coming in through a different channel than how it did during the psychedelic renaissance of the ’60s, which is now fading away a half century after that movement went off the rails. Obviously, healthcare practitioners carry the weight needed to legitimize messages about psychedelics efficacy.

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