Permissive Group Therapy with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
The British Journal of Psychiatry 1963 DOI: 10.1192/bjp.109.458.37 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Patients at Powick Hospital treated with LSD since 1952 |
| Intervention | Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) |
| Dose | relatively small doses |
| Topics | LSD |
| Citations | 21 |
| Key points | LSD's therapeutic value lies in its ability to bring repressed childhood traumatic memories into consciousness, which could be recovered in one or two sessions rather than months of analysis. |
Abstract
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) has been used at Powick Hospital since 1952. During the early years of the treatment it became apparent that many of the dramatic psychic manifestations of the drug, including the vivid hallucinatory experiences, sensory hyperacuity, etc., were of no therapeutic value and that the chief use of the drug lay in its ability to bring into consciousness repressed traumatic experiences and relationships suffered by the patient during childhood. In particular, feelings such as those of parental rejection and hostility, sexual assaults, the sense of loneliness and impending doom engendered by inhalant anaesthetics in a strange hospital environment were repeatedly recovered and abreacted with great release of emotion. LSD appeared to be unique in the ease with which under its influence these deeply repressed memories could be recovered, and analysts using the drug in relatively small doses found that it would produce in one or two sessions unconscious material which would normally only be recovered after some months of analysis.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on LSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Experimental Use of Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy | 1970 | Historical analysis | |
| LSD: My Problem Child | 1981 | Historical analysis | |
| On the Use and Abuse of LSD | 1968 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy | 1972 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Flashbacks: Recurrent Intrusive Images After the Use of LSD | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 14
- Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Neuroplastic, Immunomodulatory, and Neurotransmitter Mechanisms Pharmacological Reviews December 16, 2020
- Psychedelic-Assisted Group Therapy: A Systematic Review Journal of Psychoactive Drugs March 15, 2019
- Lower-dose psycholytic therapy – A neglected approach Frontiers in Psychiatry December 2, 2022
- Waves of the Unconscious: The Neurophysiology ofDreamlikePhenomena and Its Implications for the Psychodynamic Model of the Mind Neuropsychoanalysis 2007
- Implications Of LSD and Experimental Mysticism Journal of Psychedelic Drugs September 1, 1970
and 9 more in the library