Me and my microdose: the therapeutic value of psychedelics, with Ayelet Waldman, author of A Really Good Day

In conversation with Pamela Druckerman

When a small vial arrived in Ayelet Waldman’s mailbox from "Lewis Carroll," she was at a low point. Waldman was a successful author, TV show creator, former federal public defender and mother of teenagers. Yet her moods had become intolerably severe, and her husband and children were suffering with her. She had tried nearly every available medication.

So she opened the vial, placed two drops on her tongue, and joined the ranks of scientists and others who are using therapeutic microdoses of LSD. What followed was a month of sleepless nights, bursts of productivity, and a newfound sense of equanimity. In her book A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life, Waldman describes this experience and explores the history and mythology of LSD, the cutting-edge research into the drug, and the byzantine policies that control it.”

Ayelet Waldman is the New York Times best-selling author of A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life. She has also written four novels, the essay collection Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace, and edited several anthologies. Waldman is co-creator of the Peabody-Award-winning TV show Unbelievable, from Netflix. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Pamela Druckerman is the author of five books including Paris By Phone, a rhyming picture book for kids.