Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, from Soul to Psychedelics

A psychiatrist and psychedelic researcher explores the science of connection—why we need it, how we’ve lost it, and how we might find it again.

We are suffering from an epidemic of disconnection that antidepressants and social media can’t fix. This state of isolation puts us in “fight or flight mode,” deranging sleep, metabolism and libido. What’s worse, we’re paranoid of others. This kill-or-be-killed framework is not a way to live. But, when we feel safe and loved, we can rest, digest, and repair. We can heal. And it is only in this state of belonging that we can open up to connection with others.

In this powerful book, Holland helps us to understand the science of connection as revealed in human experiences from the spiritual to the psychedelic. The key is oxytocin—a neurotransmitter and hormone produced in our bodies that allows us to trust and bond. It fosters attachment between mothers and infants, romantic partners, friends, and even with our pets. There are many ways to reach this state of mental and physical wellbeing that modern medicine has overlooked. The implications for our happiness and health are profound. 

We can find oneness in meditation, in community, or in awe at the beauty around us. Another option: psychedelic medicines that can catalyze a connection with the self, with nature, or the cosmos. Good Chemistry points us on the right path to forging true and deeper attachments with our own souls, to one another, and even to our planet, helping us heal ourselves and our world. 

“Good Chemistry is an informative and empowering guide to the way we create our emotions, relationships, and experiences of life. As only a doctor with her range of scientific and shamanic knowledge can, Julie Holland shows us how we can play a much bigger role than we may have thought possible in how we feel and even in who we are.”  - —Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now and Team Human

“A brilliant clarion call from one of our most prescient, articulate thought leaders, Good Chemistry does what only great literature can do: it tells us what we’ve forgotten we always knew.” - Elisa Albert, author of After Birth and The Book of Dahlia

“A fresh perspective on what psychedelic research can teach us about human connection.”  - Jamie Wheal, coauthor of the bestseller Stealing Fire

“Dr. Julie Holland’s medical research and therapeutic practice have helped so many people heal from trauma, deepen relationships, and find meaning in life. Now she turns her attention to psychedelics and plant medicines, and their potential as growth promoters, life shifters, and meaning makers. She combines science with soul and cutting-edge research with compelling stories of lives changed and psyches mended, in a book that is helpful, moving, and highly relevant to our disconnected and anxious times.” - Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder of the Omega Institute and bestselling author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow and Marrow: A Love Story

“Good Chemistry is a reader-friendly book in the truest sense: from the very first page it befriends us, the readers. It speaks to us plainly and gently, keeps us company, and offers practical antidotes to the estrangement from ourselves and others so endemic in modern society.”  - Gabor Maté, MD, author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Holland’s book fills a glaring gap in our world today. It shows the importance of intimate connections and unabashedly recognizes the utility of drugs to help achieve this coveted and necessary human need.” - Carl Hart, author of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award winner High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society