How to Get Your Parents Curious About Taking Mushrooms
Think your parent could benefit from psilocybin? Here’s how to talk to them—straight from those who’ve done it successfully.
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How to Introduce Your Parents to Magic Mushrooms
Some people are introducing their parents to psilocybin — not by persuading them to trip, but by sharing their own experiences.
By Michele Koh Morollo
Seventy-five-year-old Ryna Mehr calls the day of her first psilocybin journey “Ryna’s rebirth day.” Introduced to mushrooms by her son, Dr. Seth Mehr, she describes the trip as deeply emotional, finding a peculiar comfort in facing her own mortality. “This is what it’s gonna be like when we die. It’s gonna be OK,” she recalls thinking. After that experience, she felt ready to embrace the next chapter of her life.
If you’ve had a life-changing experience with psilocybin mushrooms, you might be eager to introduce your parents to them. With its potential to break negative thinking patterns and alleviate end-of-life anxiety and depression, some adult children are hopeful it might improve the well-being of their elderly parents.
Mehr, the founder of Cascade Psychedelic Medicine and Health and Safety Director at Innertrek psilocybin service center in Portland, Oregon, views psilocybin-assisted therapy as particularly beneficial for baby boomers, who are increasingly grappling with their mortality and its impact on their loved ones. “Also, their extensive life experience means they’ve grappled with existential anxieties far longer than younger people, so psilocybin may help address issues resistant to traditional talk therapy,” says Mehr, who’s a state-licensed psilocybin facilitator in Oregon.
“Also, their extensive life experience means they’ve grappled with existential anxieties far longer than younger people, so psilocybin may help address issues resistant to traditional talk therapy.”
If you plan on broaching the topic of mushrooms with a parent, Mehr suggests keeping the conversation casual and open-ended rather than overly direct or prescriptive. Finding ways to engage their interests can also make the discussion more effective.
“Think of ways your parent’s circumstances intersect with the field of psychedelic research. For instance, if your parent sustained a brain injury, you could initiate a conversation about organizations employing psilocybin in TBI therapies,” he says. “If they’ve served in the military, you could bring up psilocybin programs such as the Heroic Hearts Project.”
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