Bulletin of the history of medicine
September 1, 1998
Karen Reeds
3 citations
Ethnobotany, a term coined in 1895, is surveyed at its centennial in a volume edited by Richard Evans Schultes and Siri von Reis. The book's mood is elegiac: just as the discipline has proven its relevance, both the plants and the unlettered societies it studies are being destroyed by the modern world. Historical essays explore psychoactive plants in ancient cultures, including William Emboden Jr.'s finding that dynastic Egypt used mandrakes, poppies, water lilies, and probably Datura, but not hemp, in shamanic rituals. Peter T. Furst analyzes sacred and medicinal uses of Datura, morning glory, tobacco, and cacao in Aztec medicine. The book lacks indexes, limiting its usefulness.
Bulletin of the history of medicine
January 1, 2021
Wendy Kline
1 citation
A historical analysis argues that the 1970s were a transformative decade for mental health, when radical ideas either matured, faded, or became mainstream. The book examines intersecting stories—from the Vietnam War to Dianetics to the DSM—to illustrate how psychiatry reached a confusing crossroads as psychoanalysis came under attack from biological psychiatry, feminists, and patient activists. It covers the Radical Caucus of the American Psychiatric Association, women's health activists challenging doctor-patient hierarchies, R. D. Laing's attack on schizophrenia, the Insane Liberation Front, parapsychology research at elite universities, and underground LSD therapy. The author concludes that seventies radicalism left a lasting impression on psychiatry and psychology that continues today.
Bulletin of the history of medicine
January 1, 2019
Nicolas Rasmussen
A historian of medicine argues that the abandonment of LSD psychotherapy for alcoholism in the 1960s–70s was primarily due to clinical trials failing to demonstrate lasting efficacy, not because of recreational use, cultural backlash, or suppression by biological psychiatry. Examining the research program at Maryland's Spring Grove hospital, the author shows that researchers persisted despite the drug's notoriety and conducted adequately controlled trials meeting post-1962 regulatory standards. However, even the best trials found no statistically significant, lasting benefit for alcoholism or other conditions. The author contends that the outcome partly reflects an inherent bias of controlled trials against therapies with strong subjective elements, such as high dropout rates when participants assigned to control groups lost faith in the treatment.