Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again

[groovedaddy]

As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.

Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.

Scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, which became taboo among regulators after enthusiasts like Timothy Leary promoted them in the 1960s with the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Now, using rigorous protocols and safeguards, scientists have won permission to study once again the drugs’ potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of consciousness.

After taking the hallucinogen, Dr. Martin put on an eye mask and headphones, and lay on a couch listening to classical music as he contemplated the universe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html?th&emc=th

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Warpy]

2. Yeah, it's true, that stuff does transform you

I've done both psychedelics and deep jhana meditation and they do get you to the same point. Psychedelics do it without concentration and years of practice, which is why a lot of practitioners of meditation sneer at them.

However, anything that leads you to the sort of ego loss you experience in both can deeply alter your outlook on life, death, and everything.

Long term studies of 60s acidheads turned up few deficits from the experience and no psychoses beyond what appear in the non drug using population. The one difference they did find is that trippers tended to concentrate in more humanitarian occupations like teaching, medicine, social work, and the arts. (sorry, citing a >10 year old journal here, no link)

That there are applications for them in psychiatric medicine comes as no shock to those of us who have been there and done that.

[RagAss]

3. Good post. We need a branch of science devoted to revealing the illusion of the ego.