Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from Clinic to Campus

216 Pages·2008·2.92 MB·English

by  Erika Dyck

Psychedelic Psychiatry
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Psychedelic Psychiatry
LSD from Clinic to Campus
erika dyck
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2008 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
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Library ofCongress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Dyck, Erika.
Psychedelic psychiatry : LSD from clinic to campus / Erika Dyck.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 8018- 8994- 3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN- 10: 0- 8018- 8994- 4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. LSD (Drug)–Therapeuticuse—History. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide—history. 2. History, 20th
Century. 3. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide—therapeutic use.
QV 11.1 D994p 2008]
RC 483.5.L9D93 2008
616.89'18—dc22 2007049668
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contents
Preface vii
Acknow ledg ments xi
Introduction 1
1. Psychedelic Pioneers 13
2. Simulating Psychoses 32
3. Highs and Lows 53
4. Keeping Tabs on Science and Spirituality 79
5. Acid Panic 101
6. “The Perfect Contraband” 119
Conclusion 138
Notes 145
Bibliography 171
Index 193
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preface
Since I began studying the history of LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide) I have
often been struck by people’s reactions to my work. Some have asked me
whether LSD is the drug that causes brain damage. Others have heard that it
permanently alters chromosomes or that traces of the drug remain in the body
forever, causing horrific flashbacks and makingeven one- time users into prime
targets for failed drug tests. Many people’s perceptions of LSD are intimately
linked with danger. People will casuallysay that they like to smoke marijuana
once in a while or that they would consider taking ecstasy, but they would never
try LSD. Some people have told me stories of someone who knew of someone
who was permanently “damaged” after taking LSD, though few people have
ever met such individuals. I remember hearing similar stories from my own
friends while growing up, like the one about the guy someone knew who took
too much LSD and believed he had been turned into an orange. He allegedly
spent his days sitting alone fearing that someone was going to peel him. People
who feel that the drug is dangerous usually assume that my investigations into
the history of LSD will prove them right.
There are a lot of other people who take a different view. When I give pre sen-
ta tions on the subject, invariably somebody approaches me afterward to tell me
a story about one of his or her experiences with LSD. These people are, for ex-
ample, professors, students, medical professionals, and psychologists. They all
appear to behealthy, rational, and well adjusted. Sometimes they want to tell me
about an amazing concert they attended while on acid, but then ask me whether
they may have put themselves at risk of long- term effects. Others reminisce
fondly about their experiences with the drug and believe that it had a very posi-
tive effect on their lives. Most of the people who make these confessions assure
me that LSD changed them, that it was different from other drugs, and that the
experience remains largely indescribable.
viii Preface
I am almost always asked about my own experiences with the drug. I sup-
pose people think that only somebody who has tried LSD could have developed
such an interest in the topic. Alternatively, they assume that somebody who
spent years studying the history of the drug must have generated an over-
whelming appetite for it. A lot of people ask me where they can get some. I do
not know.
When I began my research into the history of LSD as a graduate student, I
expected to uncover horror stories about irresponsible research experiments,
addictions, and ruined lives. There is no doubt that some LSD consumption has
had negative consequences and that some unethical experimentation with
psychedelic drugs took place in clinical settings. But what I have since learned
is that this is not, by any means, the whole story. I had the opportunity to closely
examine the rec ords of a large set of experiments conducted in Canada in the
1950s. I was surprised to learn that the psychiatrists involved in these experi-
ments went to extraordinary lengths to study the drug before giving it to pa-
tients and even tested it on themselves first. There is no question that the
patients volunteered for LSD treatments.
Although I had access to patients’ files from these early experiments, research
ethics agreements stipulated that I could not contact any of the people named in
these files, nor could I include their names in any publications. However, word
spread about my investigation and former patients began to contact me them-
selves. This very small number of individuals who had been treated with LSD
forty years earlier added a crucial perspective to my study. When we think about
taking LSD as a treatment we may think about it as being a very risky endeavor.
These people explained to me some of the circumstances that led to their partici-
pation in the trials as alcoholics. Alcoholism had affected their families, jobs,
and bodies, their whole lives, so profoundly that they were prepared to try any-
thing to find a solution. One former patient explained that he would have walked
through fire if he thought it would help him stop drinking. They all remained
loyal to the psychiatrists who gave them LSD. Of course, I was not in a position
to follow up with all the patients who had been treated in this way. The testimo-
nies I did manage to collect, though not necessarily representative, contribute an
important perspective that is not found in the textual rec ords.
In addition to the patients who took LSD, I also heard from former graduate
students, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and architects who were involved
in the experiments. Many recounted stories about taking LSD with various ca-
veats or claims ranging from But I only took it once, to try and understand what
my patients/subjects might expect to The stuff is harmless. . . . I probably took it a
Preface ix
hundred times, the fi rst summer. Many of these people were octogenarians when
I met them, which should call into question concerns about the long- term
effects of the drug.
How should we reconcile these findings with the connection that continues
to exist in the public mind between LSD and danger? This book is the result of
myquest to understand this dichotomy.