The reality is
that all psychoactive drugs can be abused with negative effects. Not to however is the road of science and
good medicine while discovering what benefits can be delivered. At the moment we rediscovering what we
already knew and taking a refresher.
What it does
mean is that the toolkit is quickly expanding and most of all this will be
available for therapeutic reasons.
It appears that
a host of mental disturbances can be described as imprinting problems. Some of these drugs allow that effect to be
countered in conjunction with well thought out therapy. This will be a huge blessing that may well
remove the weakest third of such problems and may surprise us with the rest. Just getting rid of borderline cases frees up
effort to be applied.
This appears to
be a low threshold but I think that prevents later development of sever cases.
First Study in
40 Years Legitimizes LSD for Psychotherapeutic Use
March 4, 2014 |
Buck Rogers, Staff Writer
The public image problem for psychedelic substances
is finally correcting itself, due in large part to the willingness of some
scientific communities to ignore taboos and press ahead with modern research
into the efficacy of their use as therapeutic medicines. Cannabis is the
front-runner in the campaign to end the war on consciousness and open the door
for psychoactive substances as publicly available medicine. Psilocybin is
now touted as a natural and potent remedy for chronic
depression, and the healing benefits of the South American medicine
Ayahuasca are widely discussed in the Western world, and is even showing
promise as an anti-cancer
agent.
Now, 40 years of prohibition against medical
research into the psychological benefits of synthetic compound lysergic acid
dyethlyamide (LSD)
has finally come to an end with positive results. Peter Gasser, M.D.,
a private practice psychiatrist in Solothurn, Switzerland has recently
published the significant findings of a recent study of the effects that LSD
has on patients with certain anxiety disorders.
“A double-blind, randomized, active
placebo-controlled pilot study was conducted to examine safety and efficacy of
lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)-assisted psychotherapy in 12 patients with
anxiety associated with life- threatening diseases. Treatment included
drug-free psychotherapy sessions supplemented by two LSD-assisted psychotherapy
sessions 2 to 3 weeks apart.” [Source]
The study is considered to be a success because
while showing no lasting adverse reactions to treatment with LSD, study
participants showed significant and sustained long-term reductions in state
anxiety over a 12-month period:
“These results indicate that when administered
safely in a methodologically rigorous medically supervised psychotherapeutic
setting, LSD can reduce anxiety, suggesting that larger controlled studies are
warranted.”
Peter, an Austrian subject in this study
remarked, “My LSD experience brought back some lost emotions and
ability to trust, lots of psychological insights, and a timeless moment when
the universe didn’t seem like a trap, but like a revelation of utter beauty.”
This statement is characteristic of many people’s experience with LSD, both
clinical and recreational, and brings further testimony to the case for
legitimizing these medicines for public use.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
has for years been the forerunner in the advocacy of legalization of research
into the medical benefits of psychoactive substances. In a recently released
MAPS press-alert the organization notes that, “there is considerable previous
human experience using LSD in the context of psychotherapy. From the 1950s
through the early 1970s, psychiatrists, therapists, and researchers administered
LSD to thousands of people as a treatment for alcoholism, as well as for
anxiety and depression in people with advanced stage cancer.”
Originally formulated by the renowned Swiss
chemist Albert Hoffman, LSD
produces an effect that can amplify consciousness and bring about positive
lasting changes in perception and one’s feeling of ‘connectedness’ to the universe
and the web of life that supports human beings:
“LSD in oral doses of more than 100 Kg produces
vivid psychosensory changes, including increased sensory perception,
illusionary changes of perceived objects, synesthesia, and enhanced mental
imagery. Affectivity is intensified. Thoughts are accelerated, with their scope
usually broadened including new associations and modified interpretation and meanings
of relationships and objects. Hypermnesia and enhanced memory processes
typically occur. Ego identification is usually weakened. The general state of
consciousness can be compared to a daydream, but with pronounced affectivity
and enhanced production of inner stimuli (Grof, 1975; Hintzen and Passie,
2010).” [Source]
Research into the psychotherapeutic benefits of LSD
began in the 1950′s but was brought to an abrupt halt in 1966 when LSD was made
illegal by the Unites States government, ostensibly due to overuse of LSD as a
recreational substance by America’s youth. The Executive Director of
MAPS, Rick Doblin, Ph.D. states that, “this study is historic and marks a
rebirth of investigation into LSD-assisted psychotherapy. The positive results
and evidence of safety clearly show why additional, larger studies are needed.”
In a world dominated by scientific
materialism and marked by a war on
consciousness the criminalizes the free exploration of one’s own mind
and body, legitimate and positive scientific research is the key that can
unlock long-held cultural taboos and misunderstandings about the nature of
psychoactive substances.
About the Author
Buck Rogers is the earth bound incarnation of that
familiar part of our timeless cosmic selves, the rebel within. He is a surfer
of ideals and meditates often on the promise of happiness in a world battered
by the angry seas of human thoughtlessness. He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com.
Sources:
- http://www.maps.org/research/lsd/Gasser-2014-JMND-4March14.pdf
- http://www.maps.org/media/view/press_release_lsd_study_breaks_40_years_of_research_taboo/
- http://www.maps.org/research/lsd/Gasser-2014-JMND-4March14.pdf
- http://www.maps.org/media/view/press_release_lsd_study_breaks_40_years_of_research_taboo/
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to
provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not
necessarily reflect those of WakingTimes or its staff.
This article is offered under Creative Commons
license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is
included and all links remain intact.
2 comments:
100 Kg?? I believe its supposed to be micro grams and a micro gram is 1000th of a milligram. The quantity is so infinitesimally small its really hard to believe it. where does the "government" have right or privildge to determine what I put in MY body??
100 Kg?? I believe its supposed to be micro grams and a micro gram is 1000th of a milligram. The quantity is so infinitesimally small its really hard to believe it. where does the "government" have right or privildge to determine what I put in MY body??
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