Hero's Dose: The Case for Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy
About this book
Psychedelic rituals have given societies meaning for thousands of years. The plants and fungi known as psychedelics were showing tremendous mental health benefits in the 1950s and 60s. Suddenly, they were outlawed. A half-century later, a renaissance has begun. In Hero’s Dose, journalist Derek Beres explores his quarter-century journey with psychedelics and reviews the latest science on their role in mental health treatments. He investigates the reasons psychedelics were demonized, questioning why psychiatry turned its back on this promising field of research. Beres also considers the protocols psychedelics could replace by looking at antidepressants with a critical eye. He makes a convincing case that ritual and therapy are synonymous with optimal mental health, and that psychedelics are uniquely qualified to address some of the greatest social problems of our age.