The sensationalism surrounding the widespread use of LSD in the late 1960s and the subsequent legislative overkill virtually ended psychotherapeutic LSD research. Much of what had been learned over thirty years of scientific medical study was so distorted or suppressed that no objective overview was available to the general reader except for this book.
LSD Psychotherapy is a complete account of a remarkable chapter in the ever-continuing inquiry into our transpersonal nature and origins. The controlled studies described in this book reveal exciting and challenging data about the nature of human consciousness, perception, and reality itself. Drawing on this work, Stanislav Grof outlines a new cartography of the human mind, one which accounts for experiences such as shamanic trances, near-death experiences and altered states of consciousness. This vision is also the foundation for Dr. Grof’s revolutionary Holotropic Breathwork techniques.
This book is also a visual feast, with numerous color drawings and paintings created by research participants (see featured artist Sherana Harriette Frances’ book, Drawing It Out: Befriending the Unconscious. Many of these depict archetypal images from the collective human consciousness, forming a powerful addition to the text. LSD Psychotherapy is a valuable source of information for those who are involved with LSD in any way, whether as parents, teachers, researchers, legislators, or students of the human psyche. The approach to healing described in this book is inspired by the eternal desire of humankind for wholeness and an enduring grasp of reality.
A pioneering book that explores the unknown landscape of human consciousness induced by LSD and other psychedelics.
Shows the relationship between shamanism, near death experiences, and other mystical and altered states with those induced by psychedelics.
Lays the conceptual foundation for the creation of important new therapies in psychiatry and psychology.
Stanislav Grof’s first 17 years of research into nonordinary states of consciousness induced by LSD and other psychedelics led to a revolutionary understanding of the human psyche. His research was the impetus behind a vastly expanded cartography of the unconscious, including two new realms still unacknowledged by official academic circles–the perinatal domain, which holds memories of the various stages of birth, and the transpersonal domain, which mediates experiential identification with other species and mythic figures, visits to archetypal realms, access to past life memories, and union with the cosmic creative principle.
The research presented in this book provides a map of the psyche that is essential for understanding such phenomena as shamanism and near death experiences as well as other nonordinary states of consciousness. This map has led to the development of important new therapies in psychiatry and psychology for treating mental conditions often seen as disease and therefore suppressed by medication. It also provides a new threshold to understanding and entering the numinous realm of spirit.
Written in his late eighties, at the height of his magnificent career, The Way of the Psychonaut is possibly Grof’s greatest contribution. The commanding breadth and depth of his knowledge is astounding, the tone of his writing easy and accessible, and his narratives brightened with amusing anecdotes, intriguing personal accounts, and brilliant case studies. Grof reviews the history of depth psychotherapy, the important revisions that are needed to make it more effective, and why the inner quest is such an essential pursuit.
Authors Dieter A. Hagenbach and Lucius Werthmüller, close friends of Albert Hofmann, take readers on a journey through Hofmann’s mystical childhood experiences with nature to his chemistry studies with Nobel Prize winner Paul Karrer in Zurich through his discoveries of both LSD and psilocybin at Sandoz; to his adventurous expeditions; to his many years of retirement devoted to philosophy of nature. Hagenbach and Werthmüller document Hofmann’s rich social life including interactions with illustrious writers, artists and thinkers including luminaries like Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass).
Throughout Mystic Chemist, the authors reveal the eventful history of LSD, and they chronicle Hofmann’s groundbreaking work with the drug that was later featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary series, “How to Change Your Mind.” From the start of his experimentations, Hofmann took a positive view towards LSD-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of illness, and he maintained that mystical experiences and trips to other worlds of consciousness are the best preparation for the very last journey we all must eventually make. Mystic Chemist: The Life of Albert Hofmann and His Discovery of LSD contains more than 500 photos, illustrations and drawings as well as a foreword by renowned Czech psychiatrist Stanislav Grof.
Background: Psychedelic use is anecdotally associated with belief changes, although few studies have tested these claims. Aim: Characterize a broad range of psychedelic occasioned belief changes. Survey: A survey was conducted in 2374 respondents who endorsed having had a belief changing psychedelic experience. Participants rated their agreement with belief statements Before and After the psychedelic experience as well as at the time of survey administration. Results: Factor analysis of 45 belief statements revealed five factors: “Dualism,” “Paranormal/Spirituality,” “Non-mammal consciousness,” “Mammal consciousness,” and “Superstition.” Medium to large effect sizes from Before to After the experience were observed for increases in beliefs in “Dualism” (β = 0.72), “Paranormal/Spirituality” (β = 0.90), “Non-mammal consciousness” (β = 0.72), and “Mammal consciousness” (β = 0.74). In contrast, negligible changes were observed for “Superstition” (β = −0.18).). At the individual item level, increases in non-physicalist beliefs included belief in reincarnation, communication with the dead, existence of consciousness after death, telepathy, and consciousness of inanimate natural objects (e.g., rocks). The percentage of participants who identified as a “Believer (e.g., in Ultimate Reality, Higher Power, and/or God, etc.)” increased from 29% Before to 59% After.” At both the factor and individual item level, higher ratings of mystical experience were associated with greater changes in beliefs. Belief changes assessed after the experience (an average 8.4 years) remained largely unchanged at the time of survey. Conclusions: A single psychedelic experience increased a range of non-physicalist beliefs as well as beliefs about consciousness, meaning, and purpose. Further, the magnitude of belief change is associated with qualitative features of the experience.
The modern spiritual classic, by Ram Dass, which inspired a generation into the spiritual life, originally published at Lama Foundation with artwork by Lama residents.
Since the discovery of its psychedelic properties in 1943, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) has been explored by psychiatric/therapeutic researchers, military/intelligence agencies, and a significant portion of the general population. Promising early research was halted by LSD’s placement as a Schedule I drug in the early 1970s. The U.S. Army and CIA dropped their research after finding it unreliable for their purposes. NSDUH estimates that more than 22 million (9.1% of the population) have used LSD at least once in their lives. Recently, researchers have been investigating the therapeutic use of LSD and other psychedelics for end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer, and addiction treatment. Adverse psychedelic reactions can be managed using talkdown techniques developed and in use since the 1960s.
A New Understanding explores the treatment of end-of-life anxiety in terminally ill cancer patients using psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in some mushrooms, to facilitate deeply spiritual experiences. The documentary explores the confluence of science and spirituality in the first psychedelic research studies since the 1970s with terminally ill patients. As a society we devote a great deal of attention to treating cancer, but very little to treating the human being who is dying of cancer.
Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life , messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while lesser outlets piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD’s wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical–yet legitimate–gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff’s history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday’s refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society.