Reading List
The Mind-Gut Connection
The clearest lay account of the gut-brain axis available — written by a gastroenterologist who has spent decades researching it. Essential for anyone interested in IBS, the microbiome, or psychosomatic medicine.
How to Change Your Mind
The book that introduced psychedelic science to a mainstream audience. Not a clinical text — but Pollan's research is careful, and his interviews with researchers are invaluable. Read alongside the primary literature.
The Expectation Effect
A rigorous, accessible account of how expectation shapes physiological outcomes — relevant to placebo research, clinical hypnosis, and the neuroscience of mind-body medicine. Excellent sourcing.
Good Energy
A function-first framework for metabolic health. Not every claim is equally well-evidenced, but the central thesis — that metabolic dysfunction underlies many chronic diseases — is well-grounded. Worth reading critically.
Key Literature
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy as a Promising Treatment for IBS
Erin's original research article reviewing the evidence for psychedelic-assisted therapy in irritable bowel syndrome, with clinical implications for gastroenterologists and internists.
View article and author interviewPsilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety
One of the landmark early trials on psilocybin for cancer-related depression and anxiety. Required reading for understanding where the clinical research started.
Gut microbiota features associated with Clostridioides difficile colonization
A useful example of rigorous microbiome science — specific, mechanistic, and honestly limited in its conclusions. Good model for how to evaluate microbiome studies.
Useful Starting Points
PubMed
The starting point for any serious engagement with the clinical literature. Free, comprehensive, and the authoritative source for peer-reviewed medical research.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govMAPS — Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
The primary source for clinical trial data on MDMA-assisted therapy. Read with awareness that MAPS is also an advocacy organization — but the published data is real and important.
maps.orgAmerican Society of Clinical Hypnosis
The professional organization for licensed clinicians practicing clinical hypnosis. A reliable source for finding trained practitioners and accessing the clinical literature on hypnotic interventions.
asch.netA note on curation: This list reflects what Erin finds genuinely useful — not sponsored recommendations or affiliate links. Where she disagrees with parts of a book or thinks claims should be read critically, she says so. No endorsement is unconditional.