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Every Episode of ‘Goop Lab,’ Graded for Scientific Legitimacy
The science in Gwyneth Paltrow’s new Netflix series isn’t that bad—until you get to the exorcism
I’m going to be honest, I wanted to be outraged by this show. As Elemental’s senior staff writer, I’ve written about how the wellness industry, embodied by Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop, exploits people’s insecurities and very real health issues. I’ve nodded along and tweeted and ranted about the pseudoscience she and others peddle, selling people false hope in the form of useless overpriced devices and treatments, the best of which are a waste of money, the worst of which can cause very real health harms.
To science writers, Gwyneth Paltrow is a matador holding up the red flag, and I was fully prepared to charge. But, surprisingly, Goop Labs, which debuts on January 24 (Netflix granted me an early screener of the show), isn’t that bad. At least for the first four 30-minute episodes. Then things really take a turn.
Episode 1: “The Healing Trip”
The first episode is on the use of psychedelics in guided therapy, and it’s pretty legitimate. Although still relatively fringe, the stigma around psychedelic-assisted therapy is starting to diminish as doctors and scientists learn about the drugs’ therapeutic properties. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, anorexia, and coping with a terminal illness are all being treated with psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or MDMA in clinical trials. The FDA has even granted “breakthrough status” to these drugs because of the efficacy seen in the early trials, opening the door for them to become approved medications.
The two experts from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) brought on to talk to the show’s co-hosts — Paltrow and Goop’s Chief Content Officer, Elise Loehnen — are well respected, the clinical trials they mention are well-designed studies at major universities, and the theories they provide about how psychedelics can assist in processing trauma are relatively sound. They even give the important caveat that taking the drugs in a clinical trial is very different from doing so at a party or an ayahuasca ceremony in a warehouse in Brooklyn.
