Kristen Bell once took hallucinogenic mushrooms to help ease her anxiety.
Kristen Bell
The 40-year-old actress has been living with depression and anxiety for decades, and has revealed that after trying a range of treatments to manage her mental health, she found herself inspired to try psychedelic drugs after reading a book titled ‘How to Change Your Mind’ by Michael Pollan.
She said: "He really goes into detail about this underground academic community that has continued to study the effects of LSD and psilocybin on what they call 'healthy normal’. There are aspects to those two particular drugs that the places you can go in your brain are much deeper and more healing than anything else."
The book made Kristen interested in taking mushrooms, and said her husband Dax Shepard – who previously battled a drug addiction – helped her get hold of the drugs.
She added: "I really wanted to try some psilocybin [the technical term for hallucinogenic mushrooms] and feel what kind of doors open, have a trip that was my own.
“I am very lucky to be married to an ex-drug addict. Not only did he know where to get the mushrooms … he got that really nice, quality, organic, set and setting, beautiful mushroom. And then he … babysat me."
The ‘Frozen II’ star took the mushrooms for her birthday last year, and had Dax by her side for her entire trip.
She explained: "I said, 'I really would like to experience this. And I don't want to, I'm not going to party with it, but I want to know what this feels like. And I want to talk while I'm doing it, and I want you to talk to me.' And he took me on a walk around the neighbourhood and it was so lovely."
Kristen’s experience with the drugs left her "so enamoured” with her body, and the actress claims she’s now in a better place with her mental health.
Speaking during an appearance on the ‘Hypochondriactor’ podcast, she said: "It comes in waves. But my waves are never suicidal or anything. So I'm very lucky because that does happen to people.
“When I get too much stimulus I get really irritable and it just spikes. But you just have to know when to take breaks so that you're not overwhelmed, because when I'm overwhelmed my anxiety shoots up like skyrockets. But I am still on a medication and I don't know if I'll ever be off it. I would love to think I would one day. But right now it's working."
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