Acid redux: revisiting LSD use in therapy
Contemporary Justice Review – November 18, 2008
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
After decades, Harvard has approved clinical trials using psilocybin with terminally ill patients, signaling a shift in Psychiatry. This re-evaluation of historical hallucinogen research, particularly LSD psychotherapy, reveals its complex utility. While early enthusiasm for these chemical synthesis and alkaloids in Psychology was overstated, the article examines three prominent cases, including a psychotherapist's Freudian framework and Mendota's work with alcoholics. This analysis, crucial for Psychedelics and Drug Studies and Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies, offers a nuanced perspective on integrating these powerful substances into modern therapeutic practice.
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.