My Year of Psychedelics by Sarah Napthali

On her 55^th birthday, Australian author Sarah Napthali made a promise to herself to find safe ways to partake in experiences that could open doors of perception. In her book, My Year of Psychedelics, the author lists 28 things she’d like to change about herself. Her aim is to explore the use of illegal drugs as a way of making the changes she craves within herself and her life while documenting the journey.

Curious to experience altered states of consciousness, Napthali explains that it’s her aim to experiment with a range of drugs in controlled environments. She has carried out thorough research, including many interviews with medical professionals and participants of specialised retreats, and over twelve months will travel to Portugal, the Netherlands, Costa Rica and various cities within Australia. Some experiences she participates in are small group retreats, others she is able to carry out in her home with a friend present to supervise.

My Year of Psychedelics is an honest account of her personal experiences with 8 different psychedelic inducing drugs: mushrooms, MDMA, LSD and ayahuasca—among others.

Of the opinion that a strong dose of psychedelics will definitely alter your state of consciousness, in some cases it also provided healing and in others a mystical experience.

In each chapter, Napthali analyses her feelings and insecurities, her interactions with others in her life, such as an ex-partner, a current partner, her sons and her closest friends. She also dissects how each specific drug impacted those relationships. At the end of the year, she insists she’s “still just Sarah” but has found the need to practice meditation every day, and is left with a couple of notable side effects: tooth-grinding and body shakes after physical workouts. She has also learned the importance of cultivating a loving heart.

In the book, Napthali lists the drugs she took in order of the best to the least helpful. A practising Buddhist, she considers psychedelics to be the future of mental health treatments in Australia, if not the world.

Reviewed by Carole Brungar

Allen & Unwin