Based on a series of Reddit posts from 2017-2020, I Took a Lethal Dose of Herbs is an animated VR documentary centered on an anonymous woman’s experience with a failed DIY herbal abortion and postpartum psychosis. We take an anxious journey with the protagonist as she reveals her story through hallucinations and flashbacks. A former evangelical activist who once spent her weekends praying outside of abortion clinics, her life takes a turn after the birth of her first child. She suffers a psychotic break and believes her baby is a demon. We travel with her through glitchy hallucinations of hell and demon babies. After recovering, she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant again and accidentally poisons herself during a DIY herbal abortion. Ultimately she must choose between motherhood, her life, and her sanity. 

The film takes a ‘hybrid’ approach to VR as both interactive and 'filmic', blending 3D animation and creative documentary, in order to tell the main character’s story as an intimate psychological crisis that is steeped in the flows of digital culture. The user is immersed in a first person point of view, embodying the main character’s body and mind. We inhabit her pregnant body, hear her thoughts as she posts online, see the visions of demon babies through her eyes, hear social media notifications ding in our ear, and watch the flows of online forums pass in front of us in our bedroom. As a VR film, the user can interact with various experiences embedded in the story, but regardless of what the user does, they will still always experience the story of the main character through her body and her mind. In this way, the user not only feels the story of the bodily perspective but also experiences a small glimpse of the psychological state of postpartum psychosis and the experience of DIY abortion that many women secretly go through alone.