The Religious Experience: Its Production and Interpretation

Leary, Timothy; Weil, Gunther M.

doi:10.1080/02791072.1968.10524515

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Very early academic research on classical hallucinogens was designed without considering the powerful influences of set (psychological state) and setting (environment) (e.g., Malitz et al, 1960; Rinkel et al, 1960; Hollister, 1961; Rümmele and Gnirss, 1961; Leuner, 1962). Subsequent research, which included more preparation and interpersonal support during the period of drug action, found fewer adverse psychological reactions, such as panic reactions and paranoid episodes, and increased reports of positively-valued experiences (Chwelos et al, 1959; Leary, 1964; Leary et al, 1963, 1964; Metzner et al 1965; Pahnke, 1969). …”

Section: Relevant Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety

2008

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There has recently been a renewal of human research with classical hallucinogens (psychedelics). This paper first briefly discusses the unique history of human hallucinogen research, and then reviews the risks of hallucinogen administration and safeguards for minimizing these risks. Although hallucinogens are relatively safe physiologically and are not considered drugs of dependence, their administration involves unique psychological risks. The most likely risk is overwhelming distress during drug action (“bad trip”), which could lead to potentially dangerous behavior such as leaving the study site. Less common are prolonged psychoses triggered by hallucinogens. Safeguards against these risks include the exclusion of volunteers with personal or family history of psychotic disorders or other severe psychiatric disorders, establishing trust and rapport between session monitors and volunteer before the session, careful volunteer preparation, a safe physical session environment, and interpersonal support from at least two study monitors during the session. Investigators should probe for the relatively rare hallucinogen persisting perception disorder in follow up contact. Persisting adverse reactions are rare when research is conducted along these guidelines. Incautious research may jeopardize participant safety and future research. However, carefully conducted research may inform the treatment of psychiatric disorders, and may lead to advances in basic science.

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Section: Relevant Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety

2008

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“…It seems absurd that many psychologists try to understand perception and consciousness without having any personal experience of hallucinogens (Nichols 2004) such as LSD, salvia (Gonzalez et al 2006), psilocybin (Griffiths et al 2006), or ayahuasca (Kjellgren et al 2009). Timothy Leary rightly understood that psychology could learn some important lessons from hallucinogens (Leary 1967;Leary et al 1963). I do not expect APA accreditation programs to start requiring LSD trips and Ecstasy raves as part of the doctorate psychology curricula any time soon -but it is worth contemplating how such experiences might instill useful insights, epistemic humility, and clinical empathy in young researchers.…”

Section: Geoffrey F Millermentioning

confidence: 99%

Drugs as instruments: A new framework for non-addictive psychoactive drug use

Müller¹,

Schumann²

2011

Behav Brain Sci

226

200

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Most people who are regular consumers of psychoactive drugs are not drug addicts, nor will they ever become addicts. In neurobiological theories, non-addictive drug consumption is acknowledged only as a "necessary" prerequisite for addiction, but not as a stable and widespread behavior in its own right. This target article proposes a new neurobiological framework theory for non-addictive psychoactive drug consumption, introducing the concept of "drug instrumentalization." Psychoactive drugs are consumed for their effects on mental states. Humans are able to learn that mental states can be changed on purpose by drugs, in order to facilitate other, non-drug-related behaviors. We discuss specific "instrumentalization goals" and outline neurobiological mechanisms of how major classes of psychoactive drugs change mental states and serve non-drug-related behaviors. We argue that drug instrumentalization behavior may provide a functional adaptation to modern environments based on a historical selection for learning mechanisms that allow the dynamic modification of consummatory behavior. It is assumed that in order to effectively instrumentalize psychoactive drugs, the establishment of and retrieval from a drug memory is required. Here, we propose a new classification of different drug memory subtypes and discuss how they interact during drug instrumentalization learning and retrieval. Understanding the everyday utility and the learning mechanisms of non-addictive psychotropic drug use may help to prevent abuse and the transition to drug addiction in the future.

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“…The effects of psilocybin have been documented previously, both in the published literature discussed above, and available in a large number of anecdotal reports written by individuals and available on the Internet [24]. Commonly documented effects of psilocybin include: Visual disturbances and hallucinations [17,18,25]; Loss of attention to outside stimuli [18]; changes in time perception [18,26,27]; Auditory perceptual changes [18]; Altered mood [16,18], changes in thought and memory [18]; Mystical or spiritual experiences [16,[28][29][30]; Loss of sense of self or depersonalisation [28,31,32] There is also evidence of psilocybin experiences having long-term personal meaning to participants [18,33] and potentially causing lasting personality changes [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is possible that other pharmacological or non-pharmacological variables influence the intensity and nature of the experienced drug effects. For example the psychological state of the individual or the environment, often referred to as "set and setting" [18,28,34,35]. Due to the impact of psychological and environmental factors on the psilocybin experience, there is a possibility of inducing a difficult experience or 'bad trip' if an individual is not in an appropriate state of mind or setting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Report on the Subjective Experience of Intravenous Psilocybin Administered in an fMRI Environment

Turton¹,

Nutt²,

Carhart-Harris³

2015

CDAR

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Background: This report documents the phenomenology of the subjective experiences of 15 healthy psychedelic experienced volunteers who were involved in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that was designed to image the brain effects of intravenous psilocybin. Methods: The participants underwent a semi-structured interview exploring the effects of psilocybin in the MRI scanner. These interviews were analysed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The resultant data is ordered in a detailed matrix, and presented in this paper. Results: Nine broad categories of phenomenology were identified in the phenomenological analysis of the experience; perceptual changes including visual, auditory and somatosensory distortions, cognitive changes, changes in mood, effects of memory, spiritual or mystical type experiences, aspects relating to the scanner and research environment, comparisons with other experiences, the intensity and onset of effects, and individual interpretation of the experience. Discussion: This article documents the phenomenology of psilocybin when given in a novel manner (intravenous injection) and setting (an MRI scanner). The findings of the analysis are consistent with previous published work regarding the subjective effects of psilocybin. There is much scope for further research investigating the phenomena identified in this paper.

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The Religious Experience: Its Production and Interpretation

Cited by 20 publications

References 2 publications

Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety

Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety

Drugs as instruments: A new framework for non-addictive psychoactive drug use

A Qualitative Report on the Subjective Experience of Intravenous Psilocybin Administered in an fMRI Environment

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