Psychological Aspects of the Lsd Treatment of the Neuroses
Journal of Mental Science April 1, 1954 DOI: 10.1192/bjp.100.419.508 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractLysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is valuable in the psychotherapy of neuroses. The drug's mechanism of action is examined through dynamic psychology, specifically Jungian analytical psychology. Neuroses result from a faulty relationship between conscious and unconscious minds, leading to a one-sided conscious viewpoint. This paper adopts the Jungian conception of the unconscious to explore how LSD may correct this imbalance.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Lysergic acid diethylamide |
| Topics | LSD |
| Keywords | Unconscious mind Value mathematics Psychoanalysis Action physics |
| Citations | 90 |
| Key finding | Lysergic acid diethylamide is of great value in the psychotherapy of the neuroses, and its mechanism may involve correcting the faulty relationship between conscious and unconscious as understood in Jungian analytical psychology. |
Abstract
Recent work by the author and his colleagues (Sandison, Spencer and Whitelaw, 1954) has established that lysergic acid diethylamide is of great value in the psychotherapy of the neuroses. This paper attempts to examine in rather more detail the possible mechanism of action of the drug in terms of dynamic psychology. It is now generally accepted that the psychoneuroses are the result of a faulty relationship between the conscious and the unconscious, leading to a one-sided or prejudiced conscious point of view. Any discussion which follows this observation must be preceded by a definition of the writer's conception of the unconscious, and in this paper the standpoint adopted by Jungian analytical psychology will be preferred.