I think it was in Tim Leary's "High Priest" or maybe Alan Watts' "Does It Matter?" or some such similar book, but I remember reading this hilarious anecdote of like some 1950s, Squaresville, USA parents writing into an advice column about their son.

As a reader 50 years later, it was obvious their early 20s kid had gotten into weed and shrooms/LSD, and had stepped off the rails of the day. But the parents were unable to understand what was going on. Out of nowhere, their jock-type success kid who had wanted to be an executive salesman or something, suddenly did not care about nice flashy things. He had sold many of these things and was much more interested in reading/travel. But not fancy travel, more like hostels and home stays. He was going to night school to learn a new language and was insatiably curious about foreign religious texts. He went everywhere dressed casually in comfortable clothes that seemed asian influenced. Embarrassing! He was explicitly anti-war suddenly. He was kinder and more pleasant to be around with extended family, especially his mother, but where had their son gone was the question. Was this a form of mental illness?