Scientists Suggest Fresh Look at Psychedelic Drugs

[Keith Millea]

Jeezus,here we go again!Let me repeat,"the last place I would want to trip would be with a Psychoanalyst".A sure fire way to a bad trip,and for furthur folley use the highly addictive drug ketamine.Dose the American Psychiatric Association.Great picture though.........

Published on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 by Reuters Scientists Suggest Fresh Look at Psychedelic Drugs

by Kate Kelland

LONDON - Mind-altering drugs like LSD, ketamine or magic mushrooms could be combined with psychotherapy to treat people suffering from depression, compulsive disorders or chronic pain, Swiss scientists suggested on Wednesday.


Research into the effects of psychedelics, used in the past in psychiatry, has been restricted in recent decades because of the negative connotations of drugs, but the scientists said more studies into their clinical potential were now justified.
Research into the effects of psychedelics, used in the past in psychiatry, has been restricted in recent decades because of the negative connotations of drugs, but the scientists said more studies into their clinical potential were now justified.

The researchers said recent brain imaging studies show that psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine and psilocybin -- the psychoactive component in recreational drugs known as magic mushrooms -- act on the brain in ways that could help reduce symptoms of various psychiatric disorders.

The drugs could be used as a kind of catalyst, the scientists said, helping patients to alter their perception of problems or pain levels and then work with behavioral therapists or psychotherapists to tackle them in new ways.

"Psychedelics can give patients a new perspective -- particularly when things like suppressed memories come up -- and then they can work with that experience," said Franz Vollenweider of the Neuropsychopharmacology and brain imaging unit at Zurich's University Hospital of Psychiatry, who published a paper on the issue in Nature Neuroscience journal.

Depending on the type of person taking the drug, the dose and the situation, psychedelics can have a wide range of effects, experts say, from feelings of boundlessness and bliss at one end of the spectrum to anxiety-inducing feelings of loss of control and panic at the other.

LOW DOSES

Vollenweider and his colleague Michael Kometer, who also worked on the paper, said evidence from previous studies suggests such drugs might help ease mental health problems by acting on the brain circuits and neurotransmitter systems that are known to be altered in people with depression and anxiety.

But if doctors were to use them to treat psychiatric patients in future, it would be important to keep doses of the drugs low, and ensure they were given over a relatively short time period in combination with therapy sessions, they said.

"The idea is that it would be very limited, maybe several sessions over a few months, not a long-term thing like other types of medication," Vollenweider said in a phone interview.

A small study published by U.S. scientists this month found that an infusion of ketamine -- an anaesthetic used legally in both human and veterinary medicine, but also abused by people who use it recreationally -- can lift the mood within minutes in patients with severe bipolar depression.

Mental illnesses such as depression are a growing health problem around the world and Vollenweider and Kometer said many patients with severe or chronic psychiatric problems fail to respond to medicines like the widely-prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, like Prozac or Paxil.

"These are serious, debilitating, life-shortening illnesses, and as the currently available treatments have high failure rates, psychedelics might offer alternative treatment strategies that could improve the well-being of patients and the associated economic burden on patients and society," they wrote.

© 2010 Reuters

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/18-4

[Peter Lemkin]

While there was a small dedicated group of researchers, therapists, and 'searchers' who tried to find the positive effects on the psyche of psychedelics, the government and their minions focused mostly on how to do the opposite with the same chemicals.....I'm sure most here are familiar with this, generally. They gave large doses, without any warnings or preparation, often then using psychic-driving techniques or having the 'tripper' watch persons and animals being torn apart - and other such - to induce fear, paranoia, confusion, psychos or in attempts to build programed agents or killers, etc. For some terminal cancer patients it is the only thing that gives them freedom from pain and anxiety. Many who were unwitting guinea pigs of the CIA, Military's and USGs experimentation didn't come away with very positive feelings about their 'trips'......:damnmate: I'd say follow the money, connections, and motives of those who are about to crank-up such research again.

[Keith Millea]

I'd say follow the money, connections, and motives of those who are about to crank-up such research again.

I think you hit it right there Peter.Here's my answer to using psychedelics for depression.

GET ON THE BUS!!!

It's still rollin'

[Thomas Christensen]

Jeezus,here we go again!Let me repeat,"the last place I would want to trip would be with a Psychoanalyst".A sure fire way to a bad trip

This shows you have absolutely no clue about what these people are doing. They are not trying to perform "psychoanalysis" with their patients during the trip. They actually know about the power of psychedelics, and they understand that this can have value for many different kinds of people, but if you have some kind of psychological problem, it is usually necessary to have some kind of support when you go through what needs to be gone through in order to see your way out of it.

And there is no such thing as a "bad trip". Difficult experiences always has a great potential for learning, or even ecstatic potential, which I wouldn't exactly call bad. But of course, you're free to dismiss this potential as "bad" if you want.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Jeezus,here we go again!Let me repeat,"the last place I would want to trip would be with a Psychoanalyst".A sure fire way to a bad trip

This shows you have absolutely no clue about what these people are doing. They are not trying to perform "psychoanalysis" with their patients during the trip. They actually know about the power of psychedelics, and they understand that this can have value for many different kinds of people, but if you have some kind of psychological problem, it is usually necessary to have some kind of support when you go through what needs to be gone through in order to see your way out of it.

And there is no such thing as a "bad trip". Difficult experiences always has a great potential for learning, or even ecstatic potential, which I wouldn't exactly call bad. But of course, you're free to dismiss this potential as "bad" if you want.

Thomas - I'm afraid that I disagree with every word of your post.

Of course there is such a thing as a "bad trip".

As soon as psychedelics were taken out of shamanic set and setting and provided to CIA laboratories run by sociopaths such as Ewen Cameron and Louis Jolyon West, and to CIA sub-contractors, such as Manson and Leary, the "bad trip" became the near ubiquitous experience.

I would refuse to take LSD or any psychedelic as part of a shrink-run "experiment".

Of course, if the shrink was deep black and intel-funded, they'd likely administer the drug anyway.

[Keith Millea]

Thomas,
I sure do know what I'm talking about.To me if a person has some kind of psychological problem they should stay away from these drugs.You must have at least some sort of sound mind to use them,for these drugs do bring out the deep subconscious elements of our mental being.My simple description of LSD is,"what you think is".You best be thinking in positive or spiritual matters at all times.This requires sound mental control.

And to say there is no such thing as a bad trip is absurb.I've had em,and they are way beyond frightening.With a lot experience,especially with low doses you can learn what it takes to exit these bad trips,but again,you need to have a strong mental makeup.

No,I'm not a fan of having someone as a so called guide,even with the likes of an experienced tripper like Leary who believed in guidence.He was just throwing his own ego into the stew.Your own personal stew.

With Respect.......

[Magda Hassan]

Jeezus,here we go again!Let me repeat,"the last place I would want to trip would be with a Psychoanalyst".A sure fire way to a bad trip

This shows you have absolutely no clue about what these people are doing. They are not trying to perform "psychoanalysis" with their patients during the trip. They actually know about the power of psychedelics, and they understand that this can have value for many different kinds of people, but if you have some kind of psychological problem, it is usually necessary to have some kind of support when you go through what needs to be gone through in order to see your way out of it.

And there is no such thing as a "bad trip". Difficult experiences always has a great potential for learning, or even ecstatic potential, which I wouldn't exactly call bad. But of course, you're free to dismiss this potential as "bad" if you want.

The potential of psychedelics for positive transformative or ecstatic experiences is well known and as you say need not be at all bad. But there sure is such a thing as a 'bad trip'. Many went on trips never to come home again like Frank Olsen though admittedly he may have had human assistance out the window and not transformed into a bird. With the black shrinks that Jan has referred to above LSD was used on unsuspecting and unconsenting people and children who often were forced to witness the dismemberment of living animals and other delights with the sole purpose of creating psychic trauma. If that's not a bad trip I don't know what is.

[Keith Millea]

Difficult experiences always has a great potential for learning,

After some thought,I will say that there is some truth to this point.I did actually learn to be very respectful of the power of LSD.This lead me to the use of smaller doses for some of my trips.A lot of times I would just use 1/4 of a tab to get what I called a little sparkle going.No worries about bad trips,just a nice little feel of psychadelia.But really,there is so much unpredictability when it comes to using these drugs that it's really difficult to even try and explain things.I will still stand by my statement that people with mental problems should stay away from them.And as for the shrinks,I think they would better serve these people by using other non-drug methods such as some form of meditation as an example.Can't hurt....

JUST SAYIN'

[Thomas Christensen]

The potential of psychedelics for positive transformative or ecstatic experiences is well known and as you say need not be at all bad. But there sure is such a thing as a 'bad trip'. Many went on trips never to come home again like Frank Olsen though admittedly he may have had human assistance out the window and not transformed into a bird. With the black shrinks that Jan has referred to above LSD was used on unsuspecting and unconsenting people and children who often were forced to witness the dismemberment of living animals and other delights with the sole purpose of creating psychic trauma. If that's not a bad trip I don't know what is.

Of course, I have to agree with this. Giving people psychedelics without their knowledge or consent is possibly one of the worst forms of torture I can imagine. I did not have this situation in mind when I said that no trips are bad, as this was not the subject of the article in the beginning of this thread.

Along with the experiments of the CIA and probably other government agencies in the US and other countries in the sixties, other, more constructive and positive research was also taking place. Many people took LSD and other psychedelics in a therapeutic setting, and had great results from this. Psychedelic therapists Stanislav Grof and Humphrey Osmond deserves to be mentioned in this context, as they had quite some success treating conditions where other known forms of therapy usually didn't work.

Especially Stan Grof has described his work in great detail, in various books. He describes how it can be of great value to confront experiences of fear of going crazy, deep despair, being caught forever in an absolutely unbearable situation, and many other things, and it is from this perspective I said that bad trips doesn't exist. His message is that only when you fully accept these experiences, you will go through them, and transformation will happen. But the normal instinctive reaction to something like this is of course massive resistance, and this is why it can be helpful to have a guide. The guide is NOT supposed to do anything, except when you are caught in your own resistance and need someone to tell you to accept what is.

I would expect someone like Leary to want to put his own views into your trip, but in my view he was a really out of balance person that I wouldn't want as a guide on my trips in any case.

Keith: I agree with your description of LSD so far as "what you think is". But for me, this doesn't make it necessary to have mental control of any kind. On the contrary, this gives me a genuine chance of exploring myself in great detail, and become aware of hidden aspects of myself that I wasn't aware of before. Sometimes it is very pleasurable, sometimes it isn't. But at the end of the day, if I'm able to accept whatever I see, I will have a more realistic view on myself.
I really see why you suggest that people with psychological issues should stay away from psychedelics. On the other hand, some people have issues that requires drastic methods to even get a chance of resolving. Of course, they should take these drugs only in a setting where they have genuine support from people who have a clue about what they are going through. But if everything else doesn't work, and you're in a desperate situation, I'd say it would be worth a shot.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Thomas - good post.

Grof is a most intriguing character and thinker. His description of LSD-25 as the "divine thunderbolt" correctly describes its power... for light and dark.

Stanislav Grof had just completed his medical studies at Prague's Charles University when he caught a life-changing break. It was 1956, and one of his professors, a brain specialist named George Roubicek, had ordered a batch of LSD-25 from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz, where Albert Hoffman first synthesized the compound in 1943. Roubicek had read the Zurich psychiatrist Werner Stoll's 1947 account of the LSD experience and was curious to test it out himself and on his students and patients, largely to study the drug's effects on electric brain waves, Roubicek's specialty. When he asked for volunteers, Grof raised his hand.

The subsequent experience assured Grof's place in history by making him among the first handful of people to enjoy what might be called a modern trip, in which the psychedelic state is matched with electronic effects of the kind that have defined the experience for generations of recreational acidheads, from Merry Pranksters to Fillmore hippies to lollipop-sucking ravers.

Roubicek's experiment involved placing Grof in a dark room, administering a large dose of LSD (around 250 millionths of a gram) and turning on a stroboscopic white light oscillating at various, often frenetic, frequencies. Needless to say, nothing like the experience was otherwise available in 1950s Czechoslovakia, or anywhere else, for that matter. That first introduction to LSD -- a "divine thunderbolt" -- set the course for Grof's lifework. He had found, he thought, a majestic shortcut on Freud's "royal road to the unconscious."

"This combination [of the light and the drug]," Grof later said, "evoked in me a powerful mystical experience that radically changed my personal and professional life. Research of the heuristic, therapeutic, transformative, and evolutionary potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness became my profession, vocation, and personal passion."

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/146393/how...ra/?page=2

However, the fact that Grof produced the first eastern bloc LSD, in Czech labs, and later ended up at the spook-infested Esalen Institute, makes a certain wary ambivalence inevitable.

The late great historian Walter Bowart interviewed Timothy Leary many times and finally managed to extract details of witting CIA sponsorship from him.

Perhaps.

I'll post excerpts from the interview below.