Empire of the Mind

A groundbreaking work of investigative journalism exposing the race to profit off the psychedelics revolution, and the battle to control our mental health system. When investigative journalist Olivia Goldhill started reporting on psychedelics a decade ago, the science suggested that the still-criminalized drugs would transform the mental health industry. Studies showed that psychedelics could alleviate depression and trauma and were set to be the first new mental health treatment in a generation. But as she kept reporting, she uncovered a far more complex story. A battle was brewing behind the scenes—a fight not just for control, but for the very meaning of these drugs. Hippies and scientists believed that tripping was a gateway to a more holistic approach to mental health, relying heavily on therapy and community support. But billionaire-backed entrepreneurs also saw an opportunity and threatened to subsume this alternative approach with cutthroat pharmaceutical tactics, controlling psychedelics with patents and churning out pills for profit. Meanwhile, activists in Oregon began to build their own system, entirely outside of the medical sphere. In Empire of the Mind, Goldhill dives into the world of corporate behemoths, nonprofits, and community activists, each fighting to control the future of these potentially transformative—and lucrative—psychedelic therapies. Sitting at the intersection of business and mental health, Empire of the Mind sounds an urgent alarm about how one of the last vestiges of counterculture could end up tamed into a capitalist product. With gripping on-the-ground reporting, Goldhill unveils the power of the mental health industry to control not just treatments, but our understanding of our own minds.