Existential Transactions at Harvard

Before becoming famous for promoting psychedelic drugs, Timothy Leary built a reputation in interpersonal psychology and developed a humanistic psychotherapy called existential-transactional psychology. This article traces his work from his 1957 book Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality, based on research at Kaiser Foundation Hospital from 1950 to 1956, through his Harvard experiments with humanistic therapy and psychedelics from 1960 to 1963. The article emphasizes existential-transactional psychology, which Leary formulated in an unpublished treatise, The Existential Transaction. It urged psychologists to observe behavior in real-life situations without imposing medical models and to get involved in the events they studied. His Harvard psychedelic research is discussed as an application of this theory. Leary later said his expulsion from Harvard allowed him to expand his experimental design from hundreds to millions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Before gaining notoriety as a promoter of the psychedelic drug experience, Timothy Leary established impressive credentials in the field of interpersonal psychology and was developing a humanistic form of psychotherapy he called "existential-transactional." This article plots the evolution of his work in these areas, from publication of his classic Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality (1957), based on research conducted at Kaiser Foundation Hospital from 1950 to 1956, through his experiments with humanistic psychotherapy techniques and psychedelics at Harvard University, where he taught graduate student seminars from 1960 to 1963. Emphasis is placed on existential-transactional psychology, which he formulated, prior to accepting the Harvard position, in The Existential Transaction, a treatise that enjoyed extremely limited circulation among Harvard colleagues and that never was formally published. It urged psychologists to work in "real life situations... observing behavior in the trenches" without imposing "a medical or any other model" on their subjects, and to be willing to "get involved, engaged in the events they're studying." Leary's Harvard research using psychedelic drugs to change behavior patterns is discussed as an example of this theory's application. He is quoted as saying his subsequent expulsion from Harvard in 1963 and emergence as a public figure allowed him and fellow believers in the theory "to expand... [their] experimental design from selected laboratory samples of hundreds to field studies involving millions." It is reported that Leary's bibliographers have so far been unable to locate a copy of The Existential Transaction.