Acid redux: revisiting LSD use in therapy
Adam Jacobs
Contemporary Justice Review November 18, 2008 DOI: 10.1080/10282580802482652 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Psilocybin LSD |
| Keywords | Hallucinogen Psychotherapist |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key findings | While early enthusiasm about hallucinogenic therapy was overstated, LSD may still have some utility in therapy when combined with other elements. |
Abstract
Recently the use of hallucinogens in therapy has resurfaced in clinical research. Decades after dismissing Timothy Leary for his experiments, Harvard approved clinical trials using psilocybin (mushrooms) in therapy with terminally ill patients. This article re‐evaluates the research on LSD as a therapeutic element. A re‐assessment of the earlier legal research on hallucinogenic therapy reveals both limitations to and the possible utility of these therapies. In this article I focus primarily on three cases: Stanislav Grof’s work with LSD psychotherapy in a Freudian framework; research at the Mendota Mental Health Center on psychedelic therapy for alcoholics; and Harriet Whitehead’s discussion of Scientology auditing and Piagetian schemata. This article is divided into three sections: a review of sociological and pharmacological perspectives on psychedelic drugs; a discussion of therapies using LSD during the 1960s and 1970s; and an evaluation of this research in light of intellectual developments in the understanding of cognition. While early enthusiasm about the benefits of hallucinogenic therapy was overstated, LSD may still have some utility in therapy when combined with other elements of therapy.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on LSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study of a New Schizophrenomimetic Drug—Sernyl | 1959 | Review | |
| Classic psychedelics: An integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function. General population | 2019 | Integrative review | |
| The Pharmacology of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: A Review | 2008 | Review | |
| Serotonin research: contributions to understanding psychoses | 2008 | Review | |
| ADVERSE REACTIONS TO PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE | 1984 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 3
- ‘Hitting Highs at Rock Bottom’: LSD Treatment for Alcoholism, 1950–1970 Social History of Medicine July 17, 2006
- The Serotonergic System and Mysticism: Could LSD and the Nondrug-Induced Mystical Experience Share Common Neural Mechanisms? Journal of Psychoactive Drugs September 1, 2002
- Hallucinogens. Pharmacology & Therapeutics February 1, 2004