The Trip Doctors

Psychedelic drugs as therapy, a California prison hospice and more. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, May 18, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Hallucinogenic Drugs as Therapy? I Tried It]( By THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE [Michael Pollan writes about the researchers and renegades bringing psychedelic drugs into the mental health mainstream.]( Michael Pollan writes about the researchers and renegades bringing psychedelic drugs into the mental health mainstream. Illustration by Christoph Niemann Dear Reader, I hope you’ve had a nice week. I spent mine studying the weather forecast and praying for sun. We have a wild magazine project coming up this weekend (I can’t share the details yet!) for a future issue, and we’re hoping for decent weather in New York City on Saturday. I know, it doesn’t look good. When I wasn’t fretting over the meteorological difference between “drizzle” and “occasional shower,” I was enjoying Michael Pollan’s new book, “How to Change Your Mind,” which was published this week. It’s a fascinating account of the renaissance in how we understand and are learning to use psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin in mainstream therapeutic settings. For the cover story of this weekend’s special Health Issue, Pollan adapted some of his reporting for a new story about [how important the therapist-patient relationship is when using these drugs for mental health purposes.]( New research has shown that LSD and psilocybin can have beneficial effects in treating depression, anxiety, addiction and other problems, but only when a trained therapist is guiding the user’s experience and helping the user consolidate what she or he learns from it after the trip is finished. This theme of the all-important relationship between caregiver and patient is carried through the other feature stories in this week’s special issue, which are highlighted below. No matter how high-tech our health care system becomes, nothing can (or should) replace the healing power of human connection. Onward, Jake Silverstein Editor in Chief [THE PRISONERS WHO CARE FOR THE DYING]( Suleika Jaouad brings us a remarkable story of humanity from a California prison where convicts care for their fellow inmates who are terminally ill. Caring for the dying changes the prisoners in profound ways. The chaplain who oversees the program says that of the 250 workers who have been released from prison since the program began, none have returned for a felony, and only three have returned for minor parole offenses. Nationally, around 25 percent of federal inmates return to prison within eight years. Katy Grannan’s accompanying photographs show the incredible lengths the prisoners go to provide dignified deaths, from the small gestures to round-the-clock vigils. [WHAT IS THE DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP WORTH?]( “The question of what the role of a primary-care physician should be, and how it should be valued, has perhaps never been more urgent,” writes Kim Tingley in her article about attempts to reinvent primary-care delivery by companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Studies suggest that strengthening the patient-doctor relationship can significantly reduce patients’ hospitalizations and expenses (to hospitals and Medicare), and improve their mental health. Will it influence the plans of the corporations seeking to disrupt health care? [THE PRICE FOR ‘DIGITAL MEDICINE’]( More than 50 percent of physicians in the United States have at least one symptom of burnout, and the number is only increasing. The problem, Abraham Verghese writes, is a systemic one: a 4,000-key-clicks-a-day problem. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have had unintended consequences on the rituals of care for physicians and nurses working busy 10-hour emergency-room shifts. Meanwhile, the patient — “the living, breathing source of the data and images we juggle,” Verghese writes — “is in the bed and left wondering: Where is everyone? What are they doing? Hello! It’s my body, you know!” [A GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPE FOR SPICY, CRUNCHY INDIAN FISH]( When the Indian cookbook author Archana Pidathala discovered her grandmother’s cookbook from Andhra, in southeast India, she began translating and rewriting recipes. One of the first dishes she mastered was chepa vepudu, a simple fish fry. Tejal Rao writes that the trick is in ‘‘tempering’’ — adding a final splash of flavor from spices in the moment just before a dish is finished cooking. [FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE NEUROSCIENTIST MAKING ‘BRAIN SOUP’]( If you enjoyed the Health Issue this year, you may want to delve even deeper into the mysteries of medical science. Last year, Ferris Jabr wrote about neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel, whose unorthodox but completely lega, ways of studying the brain have led to breakthroughs in understanding how many cells are contained within the human brain. She has acquired and studied the brains of more than 130 species, but her methods are quite different from the others in her field: instead of scanning the brains, she demolishes them into cloudy, liquid concoctions. [VETERANS GO BACK TO COURT OVER BURN PITS]( Last week, U.S. veterans asked a federal appeals court to reinstate their lawsuit against a military contractor for exposing them to toxic emissions from burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. After 10 years of litigation, the case is still at the procedural starting gates, and unless the plaintiffs eke out a win on appeal, it will be one of the biggest setbacks yet for tens of thousands of affected veterans who have received zero recompense despite years of advocacy by lawyers and nonprofits. [Can I Make My Company Take a Stand on Guns?]( By KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on encouraging an employer to come out against gun violence, false bravado in school-shooter training and more. [How Exercise Can Help You Recall Words]( By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Aerobic fitness may help you avoid lapses in your vocabulary. ADVERTISEMENT [Letter of Recommendation: Drew Barrymore’s ‘Little Girl Lost’]( By AMOS BARSHAD It’s more than just a memoir: It’s logistically stupefying, touching and absolutely packed with choice late-’80s gossip. [Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?]( By JOHN HERRMAN A new crop of smartphones has arrived, aiming to improve on the iPhone — not by being better but by being substantially worse. If you enjoy our newsletter forward this email to a friend and help the magazine grow. Getting this from a friend? [Sign up to get the magazine newsletter](. Let us know how we can improve at: [newsletters@nytimes.com](mailto:newsletters@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback%20NYT%20Magazine) Check out our [full list of free newsletters]( including [Summer in the City]( The best of what to see and do and eat and drink each week. And don’t worry about a commitment — like summer, this newsletter will be fleeting, running only through Labor Day. 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