'Five Trips': Read an excerpt from TV anchor Kendis Gibson’s psychedelic healing memoir

by USA TODAY’s Clare Mulroy

Often TV news anchors come to feel like family – we spend evenings and mornings with them, laugh with them and mourn national losses with them. But what’s behind the smile and signature newscaster voice.

A lot of things, says Kendis Gibson, a two-time Emmy winning journalist who has appeared on ABC News, CNN, CBS News and more.

His memoir, “Five Trips: An Investigative Journey into Mental Health, Psychedelic Healing, and Saving a Life” is out now from Simon & Schuster. It chronicles the most intense moments of his career – on the ground at the Twin Towers covering 9/11, co-anchoring ABC’s “World News Now” and interviewing Beyoncé. But it also takes you behind the bylines: A panic attack forced him to cut an interview with Queen Bey short.

Clinical trials show psilocybin and MDMA-assisted therapy may help treat serious mental health conditions including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psilocybin, sometimes called “magic mushrooms,” is legal only in Oregon and Colorado, but saw momentum on ballots this fall. With “Five Trips,” Gibson hopes to destigmatize psychedelic use as medicine. 

Read the full article on USA TODAY’s website here.