New York Times bestselling author, Don Lattin, joins us on Psychedelics Today to talk about his new book, Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy. Lattin’s new book covers the current psychedelic renaissance by exploring the scientific and academic research examining these powerful substances for an array of mental health issues, spirituality, and more.
In this episode, we explored psychedelic history, Don’s new book, some personal experiences, and more.
Changing Our Minds
From Synergetic Press
Changing Our Minds is an essential read for those interested in the expanding field of psychedelic research for therapeutic and spiritual uses.
CHANGING OUR MINDS is an experiential tour through the social, spiritual and scientific revolution that is redefining our relationship with mind-expanding substances. It tells the inspiring and very human stories of pioneering neuroscientists, psychotherapists, shamans and ordinary people seeking to live more aware and compassionate lives by combining the miracles of modern chemistry, therapeutic techniques and the wise use of ancient plant medicines.
A new era of research into psychedelic-assisted therapy has begun. Party drugs like Ecstasy (MDMA) are used to help U.S. veterans struggling with the psychological aftermath of war. Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, is employed as a medicine to help alcoholics get sober and cancer patients struggling with the existential distress of a life-threatening illness. Meanwhile, the use of the ayahuasca, a shamanic brew from the Amazon jungle, has grown into an international movement for those seeking greater spiritual and psychological insight.
Changing Our Minds is the essential primer for understanding and navigating this new consciousness-raising territory.
Links and Notes
- Changing Our Minds – Use the coupon code Lattin for a discount
- Richard Yensen
- Andrew Weil
- Harvard Psychedelic Club
- Tim Leary
- Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)
- Ralph Metzner
- Good Friday Experiment
- Spring Grove Experiment
- Peter Hendricks
About Don Lattin
Don Lattin is an award-winning journalist and the author of six books.
His most recent work, CHANGING OUR MINDS – Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy, was published in the spring of 2017. It chronicles a quiet revolution underway in our understanding of how psychedelic drugs work and how they can be used to treat depression, addiction and other disease. The stories behind this cutting-edge medical research and religious exploration reveal the human side of a psychedelic renaissance.
Changing Our Minds is the latest installment in a trio of books about the recent history and future prospects for finding beneficial uses for drugs and plant medicines like LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and ayahuasca.
Don’s previously published work is titled DISTILLED SPIRITS — Getting High, then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk. It’s a memoir/group biography that looks at how writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard, and Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, opened new doors in Western religious thought
Distilled Spirits is a prequel to THE HARVARD PSYCHEDELIC CLUB — How Timothy Leary, Andrew Weil, Ram Dass, and Huston Smith Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. It was a national bestseller and won the 2010 California Book Award, Silver Medal, for non-fiction.
Lattin’s journalistic work has appeared in dozens of U.S. magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle, where Don worked as a staff writer for nearly two decades.
His other books are JESUS FREAKS – A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge and FOLLOWING OUR BLISS – How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape Our Lives Today. He is also the co-author of SHOPPING FOR FAITH – American Religion in the New Mil-lennium
Don has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds a degree in sociology. He is a contributing writer for the Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions and the Encyclopedia of Religion in America.
Dr. Brown Specializes in whole health psychiatry. This approach differs from many other practitioners who more and more practice symptomatic management when it comes to mental health. Dr. Brown takes the perspective that the body has the ability to heal itself, but from time to time may need assistance through balancing the things that are important for physical health that are also important from mental health. These include, sleep, diet, exercise, meditative/spiritual practice and cultivating positive social relationships. Dr. Brown also has a strong command of how to balance vital nutrients in our body with the aid of supplementation to augment traditional psychopharmacological therapies. Dr. Brown’s method is aimed primarily at the treatment of Depression and Anxiety as well as other mood disorders and ADHD. Dr. Brown is a specialist in the treatment of OCD specifically and is board certified by the ABPN in both adult as well as child and adolescent psychiatry.
In addition to his work with Medicinal Mindfulness, Daniel has a successful spirituality and life coaching practice with his wife, Alison, through their company, Aspenroots Counseling LLC. Highly skilled in identifying and cultivating giftedness in young people and supporting significant life transitions, Daniel is inspired to support passionate and talented individuals striving to live into their calling. A primary focus of his practice involves assessing and addressing the benefits and difficulties related to psychedelic and cannabis use and misuse.
supportive ways, working collectively toward shared goals while enhancing the personal journey of each individual. Cosmic Sister promotes love, higher consciousness, abundance and creativity, and members pledge to hold each other’s best interests at heart as allies and affiliates. We want to see women shine.
Vilmarie Narloch, PsyD., is the Drug Education Manager at Students for Sensible Drug Policy. In this role, Vilmarie oversees the development and implementation of the SSDP Peer Education program, which is a training program for SSDP Members to become certified to deliver our drug education program, Just Say Know, to their peers. Vilmarie is passionate about reforming drug education in the U.S. and abroad, and has dedicated years of study on the topic for her dissertation. Vilmarie has taken on this position because as an organization driven by students with exceptional knowledge on drug policy and other drug use related issues, SSDP is uniquely positioned and qualified to be developing a drug education program. Additionally, Vilmarie educates staff and the network on the current state of research and treatment issues with regard to substance use disorders and mental health. Vilmarie aims to aid in the connection of policy and practice by helping our network understand the impact of policy on access to treatment and care while utilizing the latest research.
She received her Master’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami, Florida and post master’s certificate in psychiatry at the University of California-San Francisco. Julie maintains licenses in family medicine and psychiatry in an effort to close the gap between medical and psychiatric care, incorporating the mind/body connection for most effective treatment. She currently is in private practice in the San Francisco/Bay Area.
Peter Sjöstedt-H is an Anglo-Scandinavian philosopher who specialises in the thought of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Whitehead within the fields of Philosophy of Mind and Metaphysics – especially with regard to panpsychism and altered states of sentience. Peter received a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Continental Philosophy from the University of Warwick, where he was awarded a first-class distinction for his dissertation on Kant and Schelling in relation to ‘intellectual intuition’. He subsequently became a Philosophy Lecturer in London for six years but is now engaged in his PhD at Exeter University where he also teaches philosophy modules and writing skills. Peter is the author of 
Kevin graduated from Northeastern University in 2013 with a degree in neuroscience. As an undergraduate he completed an internship as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School working on the Phase 2 dose-response study investigating the therapeutic potential of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of cancer related anxiety. Kevin was also one of the founders of the Northeastern chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and in 2009 the group hosted and co-sponsored the Boston Ibogaine Forum. He now lives in New York City where he is enrolled in a clinical psychology graduate program at The New School for Social Research and is pursuing a doctoral degree. Kevin has worked part-time for the Drug Policy Alliance, and also works as a writer covering topics related to psychedelic therapy, addiction, and mental health advocacy. His recent contributions include: New Scientist, Reason.com, Reset.me, Reality Sandwich, and VICE.com.
Thomas B. Roberts promotes the legal adaptation of psychedelics for multidisciplinary cultural uses, primarily their academic and spiritual implications. He formulated Multistate Theory (2013) coined Singlestate Fallacy, mindapps, neurosingularity, metaintelligence, and ideagen, and he named and characterized the Entheogen Reformation (2016). He is a founding member of the 
