I am currently researching my senior project which happens to be on the advantages of LSD therapy. My thesis revolves around the claim that had Timothy Leary and the Merry Pranksters not popularized LSD for pop culture use it would still be utilized as one of the most beneficial psychoactive treatments available. What I need are primary source documents from the 50's and 60's showing the benefits of LSD in a therapeutic setting. If anyone has any links to websites of medical journals or suggestions of books or anything along these lines that would help me I would appreciate if you would post it for me. Thanks!
-
N&PD Moderators: Skorpio
LSD therapy...need primary source support
- Thread starter msjmar
- Start date
Riemann Zeta
Bluelighter
I personally think that LSD is the single most beneficial psychoactive chemical ever invented by mankind. It allowed me to appreciate and take pleasure in being alive for the first time, well, ever. If I could go back in time and kill Timothy Leary (like a psychedelic terminator...now if only I had the whole liquid-metal thing), I would, because he set psychedelic research back by 60 years and did irreparable damage to the reputation of the one compound that has helped me more than any other thing on the planet. If you want psychotherapy sources from the 1950s, the place to start is:
Blewett DB & Chwelos N (1959). Handbook for the Therapeutic Use of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25: Individual and Group Procedures.
I think that a copy (which, alas, is OCR) can be found on MAPS.MurphyClox
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,416
Erowid is a very good start, too. It provides first info and directs to hundreds original publications as well.
The Monkey Mantra
Bluelighter
I wrote a paper on this topic. It's still sitting around publicly on my LiveJournal account. It's got a buttload of references at the end, too:
Renegade Pharmacology
The paper's a well-researched rant written for an Ethics in the Sciences class back when I was a wee biochemistry student. Hope you find it useful!
Ernestrome
Bluelighter
Have you seen the Maps Psychedelic Bibliography? http://www.maps.org/sys/w3pb.pl?face=simple/
Are you using Jay steven's Storming heaven: LSD and the American Dream?
See also Blum, Utopiates use and users of LSD.
E Kast. Lsd and the dying patient.
Grof et al (1973) Lsd assisted psychotherapy in patients with terminal cancer.
Although it's with psilocybin not LSD, Roland griffiths' work, which you can find via the maps bibliography, may be useful.
Aaronson and Osmond, Psychedelics: The Uses and Implications of Hallucinogenic Drugs.
Druglibrary.org has lots of stuff on the older studies.Honestly I think it's downright negligent to promote LSD as a therapeutic agent. It has the ability to cause permanent HPPD and psychosis, and cause horrible bad trip experiences. And enough of this mystical crap about how LSD expands your mind, because it clearly doesn't. All it does is temporarily block the flow of information of your brain, so your brain has to "fill in" missing pieces with pretty colors, fractals, and bizarre thoughts. All the people I've known who are frequent users of LSD are burned-out, dull, and generally have a few screws loose. I'm tired of people promoting LSD as some kind of psychological cure-all. It has no place in modern medicine. And not to mention it's far less specific for 5-HT receptor subtypes than other agents such as psilocin, mescaline, 2c-x, etc.
Hammilton
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2008
- Messages
- 3,435
Specificity argument is a non sequitur.
What belongs in modern medicine is what works and what is safe. HPPD and Psychosis occur at such low levels that this whole argument is also a non sequitur. The same problems and worse exist with medications currently used in medicine.
There's no talk about using LSD frequently; there's talk about short term guided use under direct psychiatric care.
To say that LSD is not useful makes me wonder if you've even bothered to look at the actual research that has been done on it's use to treat alcoholism and drug addiction. IIRC, it was similar in efficacy to Ibogaine.
Right-Wing nonsense detached from any bit of research is the reason present day American research has been blocked so heavily.
Riemann Zeta
Bluelighter
^^I've never once had a "bad trip" with LSD, never experienced any anxiety, psychosis or "bizarre thoughts" and I still have no idea where all this "it causes permanent flashbacks" shit is coming from. I'm kind of tired of people claiming that LSD recapitulates and/or causes psychosis and schizophrenia. For me, it has been pretty goddamn close to a psychological "cure-all." Obviously, no chemical is going to be a true "cure-all" (and obviously, no chemical is going to beneficial for every single person out there), but it sure as shit has helped me more than any other thing out there, chemical or non-chemical.
Now, I'm not saying that it is mystical, magical and some sort of divine sacrament--it is a chemical, like all psychedelics. Leary was an egotistical asshole that took LSD and turned it into a personality cult. He was completely full of shit and definitely had the wrong approach. I don't agree with him and I don't advocate a moronic "dose the planet" hippie approach. But for some people (like me), it hasn't led to irreparable permanent insanity (or any kind of psychosis or bizarre behavior), has never caused this HPDD thing that everyone seems to think is so universal and has not turned me into a drooling neo-hippie burn-out.
One thing that I do know is that after taking LSD, I actually felt what it is like to appreciate and enjoy life. If that makes me an insane burn-out, well, then so be it.Last edited:
This is just a really, really retarded line of rhetoric, lacking both any contextual understanding of psychopharmacology/neurology, and of general reasoning. I hope that's obvious to anyone with sense, I don't even feel like going into it.Last edited:
Riemann Zeta
Bluelighter
^ It is obviously stupid. I wasn't even going to touch this "it blocks the flow of information to your brain" bullshit with a 10m pole.LOL, my argument is not bullshit! So you're arguing the hallucinations are due to an expansion of your mind power?
This article pretty much sums up the hallucinogenic experience and gives the neural mechanisms for the effects.
http://www.tripzine.com/pit/html/multi-state-theory.htm
Also, arguing that LSD or ibogaine can "cure" addiction is ridiculous. I've never met, or even heard of, a single person who successfully stayed clean from drugs after taking ibogaine or LSD with the intent to fix their addiction.
MattPsy
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2006
- Messages
- 1,615
Just because we know the method of action does not mean we can say with certainty what the end result will be. We need clinical research to say things like that. There has been some done, and the results have been positive - I suggest you check them out.
It's "mind-expanding" power is not /directly/ related to it's modification of brain function. It is /indirectly/ related.
It's beneficial effects arise from brain function being disrupted so it shakes up the user's normal state of mind and causes them to examine things from different perspectives, sometimes changing their entire outlook upon life.
Intense experiences of many kinds can do this - unfortunately, these are usually negative events. We call the outcome from these PTSD.
LSD *can* cause PTSD yes, but only in a small proportion. For the closest example case we have in modern times, refer to R. R. Griffiths et al. "Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance". Psilocybin is not LSD, true, but both cause intense trips and the trips are qualitatively similar (unsurprisingly).
Yes it is.
Sorry, but I don't see that that article on tripzine backs your claim. You might as well say that endogenous dopamine transmission is bullshit because it inhibits serotonin transmission. You might as well say that endogenous GABA transmission is bullshit because it "blocks the flow of information to your brain", allowing you to relax. You might as well say that the neural mechanisms of selective attention are bullshit because they "block the flow of information to your brain", allowing you to "learn". The neurobiological mechanisms that seem to underlie consciousness are a network created by both inhibition and excitation, both activation and deactivation, and characterized by constant alteration, whether by endogenous or exogenous mechanisms.
That article, if anything, focuses on the ability of LSD to lower latent inhibition (lower latent inhibition also being a correlate of creativity), i.e. INCREASING the amount of "information" in conscious awareness.
Adrenergic agents like caffeine dose-dependently (at higher doses the effect is often reversed) seem to fill your criteria of 'reducing information flow to the brain', as they seem to commonly reduce latent inhibition, which also perhaps has the consequence of facilitating concentration. Does this mean that caffeine is bullshit?
Your argument is bullshit.
As Hammilton said, you seem to have not bothered to look at the actual research on the topic. If you have, say, methodological problems with the research, please feel free to raise your objections, after you have examined said evidence.
Sorry, but that's anecdote, not hard evidence, which actually exists. On bluelight there are countless people who think that use of LSD has improved their life. Obviously, you have ideological blinders on. I have not been addicted to drugs, but I definitely think that my experiences with LSD lead me to reduce those drug-use behaviors which were negatively impacting my life, among other considerable benefits.Last edited:
Hammilton
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2008
- Messages
- 3,435
Your arguments are emotional, not science-driven or based in research. If what you're saying is true, it ought to be easy for you to provide resources showing that psychosis and HPPD occur at too high of rates (and are too unmanagable or treatable) to make LSD treatment- which, as it has been studied, involves single or low-number multiple doses spread through time- too dangerous. The basis for your danger argument- the burn out argument- is based on high number, high dose, frequent use. That's not therapy, that's drug abuse. We're all aware of the results of drug abuse.
I don't think I've ever seen such weak, science deprived arguments used by what I considered respected members here.
wungchow said:
Logically, your argument is bullshit- none of conclusions you make follow from the argument presented. Yes, psychotic breaks and HPPD can and do occur. Similar side effects, and worse side effects occur at the same rates or with even higher frequency. The fact that these side effects may occur doesn't lead to the conclusion that LSD shouldn't be used unless you're also claiming that a major portion of currently used medications should also have been removed from use.
Receptor specificity is also irrelevant. Our psychiatric medications like to go back and forth. It started with wide ranging tricyclics- SE, NE and DA reuptake inhibitors. Then they found SSRIs, they were promoted as being super specific in their actions. Then they brought out the SNRIs. Twice the activity, Twice the Happiness! Now they have Triple RIs in the pipeline (I wonder if these'll be scheduled or not).
Specificity has never been a criterion for the use of a medication. They look at two things: efficacy and safety.
Repeatedly, LSD has been shown to be safe (at least as, if not more, than many of the medications currently in use, as mentioned above). Efficacy is what needs to be proven now.
Looking at the studies done from the 1950s and early 60s, it looks effective. The methodology wasn't always great, but that is why it bears current investigation with better methods.
You're resorting to the typical right-wing tactics again. No one claimed that it was a cure for addiction. It has been shown to be effective at treating addiction. These are far apart.
Look at Dyck's current work or this:
Bowen WT, Soskin RA, Chotlos JW.
“Lysergic acid diethylamide as a variable in the hospital treatment of alcoholism. A follow-up study.”.
J. Nerv. Ment. Dis.. 1970;150:111-118.
Kurland A, Savage C, Pahnke WN, Grof S, Olsson JE.
“LSD in the treatment of alcoholics”.
Pharmakopsychiat.. 1971;4:83-94.
Both should be available at Erowid, but if not, I can send them to you. This is only a drip of the research that's been done, of course. Your science-less claims make me think you've not read a single study on the use of LSD as a treatment.MurphyClox
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,416
Already announced at the "World Psychedelic Conference" in Basel this year, there was very recently a book published,which is entitled:
"Therapy with Psychoactive Substances"
Editors are Henrik Jungaberle, Peter Gasser, Jan Weinhold and Rolf Verres. Unfortunately, the book was published solely in german but maybe there will be an english translation soon. Among the numerous contributing authors you'll find names like Franz X. Vollenweider, Torsten Passie, Charles Grob, Stanislav Grof and Rick Doblin. All luminaries in the field of psychoactive research and all quite respected scientists.
From one of the first chapters of that book:
I don't think I have to elaborate this any further.
Peace! Murphy
qwe
Bluelight Crew
this is an old thread but i'd like to input. i've read a lot of tim leary's books, as well as the close friends, the other psychedelic gurus of the 60's like Lilly, R.A.W, mckenna, alan watts, all those cool people
if it wasn't for leary popularizing the drug (and he always highlighted the importance of set and setting and using in the correct manner, and his legalization proposal was the "license" system which makes a lot of sense),
then i think it's possible that much more racism might still exist, pressures against females in the workplace would be higher, our general level of awareness as a species would be reduced, sexual repression would be much higher, et al et al
basically, leary's idea was that LSD could serve as a vehicle for A) individual self enhancement when used correctly (and he was always careful to point out that normal recreational use is not what he was talking about) and, this is why he popularized it, B) a vehicle for SOCIAL change
look at the 60's. social change happened
Sunburn
Bluelighter
- Joined
- May 1, 2009
- Messages
- 121
It's not Tim, but look up AA's use of LSD
http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=4189
& You may be able to find some primary sources here
http://www.maps.org/research/
qwe
Bluelight Crew
yeah i used MAPS, pubmed, and a drugs articles database for free articles. some of the PDFs are hosted by erowid, thanks erowid. others are hosted by science journals
NSFW:
