Quantifying the Pollan Effect: Investigating the Impact of Emerging Psychiatric Interventions on Online Mental Health Discourse
May 11, 2024 Sachin R. Pendse, Neha Kumar, Munmun de Choudhury 6 citations
Online discussions about psilocybin-containing mushrooms shifted toward health-related topics after the release of a book and a subsequent documentary, a pattern termed the Pollan Effect. Analysis of 676,875 Reddit posts over a decade showed that following these two inception points, discourse increasingly focused on health rather than recreation. Additionally, a Pollan shift occurred, with more collective sharing of emotional and social experiences. These findings suggest online platforms can reflect emerging social movements around new psychiatric treatments and play a role in sensemaking and research.