Voyage aux confins de l'esprit

I watched the first episode, the one about LSD. In my younger daze I was quite well acquainted with the dreaded lysergic. I went to AA for many years and I heard about Bill W taking acid after he got sober. The TV show stated that he got sober because of his acid experience.....not so, he got sober 8 yrs before acid was invented. I heard he was looking for a cure for his long term depression so he tried acid.

Other than the misinformation I enjoyed watching the episode.

I found this to be a very hopeful and inspiring documentary, regarding the renaissance of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of the most critical mental illnesses. Research on four different drugs has been given the green light to resume after initial trials in the 1950s and early 1960s. These drugs are being proven to genuinely help with long entrenched maladies such as PTSD, depression and anxiety, providing real and lasting help to those so afflicted. Should be mandatory viewing for policymakers involved with overhauling America's mental health delivery system.

Really wonderful information, but I don't understand why they weigh so heavily on mysticism when we have a lot of scientific understanding how spirituality works. Our brains have a mechanism that is a bit of a slider switch between "self" and "no self". The more we live in fear, anxiety, focus, the more we trend towards "self" because it is precisely linked with survival - if you don't focus on "self" then you are less likely to survive in the wild. Psychedelics throw the switch the other way and make us forget about ourselves as individual beings, which much like religious experiences, makes us feel "one with all". It's not magic, it's an evolutionary mechanism. Wish they would talk more about the science we already have.

This series is a great way to show the beauty in these compounds and the benefits of medical use in a very interesting way. I believe this can change the future of mental health positively as well as many others.

It was also very educational in the history behind psychedelics which I also enjoyed to watch.

I've found it's hard to force spirituality on anybody, and difficult to stress the importance of these chemicals for living a full life (for some). Shows like this are excellent ways of spreading the word, and inspiring more people to get involved.

Michael Pollan explains things very well - if you've seen him on various podcasts or read his book you'll know that.

Sometimes a lot of the accounts can become slightly repetitive, but that's probably just my opinion as I've seen a lot of similar content.

Highly recommend.

MT.