SANTA CRUZ, CALIF. – Today, the results of the first study of the therapeutic use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in humans in over 40 years were published online in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
Sponsored by the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study in 12 subjects found statistically significant reductions in anxiety following two LSD-assisted psychotherapy sessions. The results also indicate that LSD-assisted psychotherapy can be safely administered in these subjects, and justify further research.
“The study was a success in the sense that we did not have any noteworthy adverse effects,” reports Principal Investigator Peter Gasser, M.D., a private practice psychiatrist in Solothurn, Switzerland. “All participants reported a personal benefit from the treatment, and the effects were stable over time.”
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.
“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,” says Peter, an Austrian subject who participated in the study.
The study was approved by SwissMedic in December 2007. The first subject was enrolled on April 23, 2008, and the last long-term follow-up interview was conducted on August 8, 2012. Eleven of the 12 subjects had not taken LSD prior to participating in the study.
“This study is historic and marks a rebirth of investigation into LSD-assisted psychotherapy,” says Rick Doblin, Ph.D., MAPS Executive Director. “The positive results and evidence of safety clearly show why additional, larger studies are needed.”
Founded in 1986, MAPS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Friday, March 7, 2014
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Friday, December 13, 2013
The American Dream
As the darkness grows deep inside my soul I keep a glow about me that lends others to believe that all is good. I stay up late with my insomnia, then I get up at 4am, dark. Darkness is all around me. I used to be sane enough to go out in my car, crank up the Cars, The WHo, etc.. and just seeing the beauty of our wonderful free world that we live in was enought to lighten the darkness.
As I have lost faith in the human race, our nation built on free will and capitalism, and by the people. You know that one gets me, "by the people" now adays it is "Bye the people and hello socialism.
As far as I am concerned our ancestors in the '50s had it kinda right, they had the "American Dream" to shoot for. Then the baby boomers came along and for some reason eliminated accountibility and responsibility from our lives. Then when you grew up like me, split between the two, you get really confused. When your younger its all hell yeah, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yeah that is all nice and good but you know what we have an obligation to our species and our planet to bring accountability and responsibility back to our wonderfull world.
You know, where USA has failed in that part of humanity, suprisingly alot of the other nations we hated so dearly during the cold war have actually realized what we have lost and have started making up for it.
Don't ever get me WRONG!!! I AM AN AMERICAN TRUE AND BLUE!!! I am just making a call to my brothers and sisers to take some of what I have said and look around. Do you still see the AMERICAN DREAM???? Lets bring it back, if not for our kids but for our grandchildren so that we do actually have a legacy that we have left instead of a broken down, depressed, and no American Dream except in history books.
Rock on,
Patrick
As I have lost faith in the human race, our nation built on free will and capitalism, and by the people. You know that one gets me, "by the people" now adays it is "Bye the people and hello socialism.
As far as I am concerned our ancestors in the '50s had it kinda right, they had the "American Dream" to shoot for. Then the baby boomers came along and for some reason eliminated accountibility and responsibility from our lives. Then when you grew up like me, split between the two, you get really confused. When your younger its all hell yeah, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yeah that is all nice and good but you know what we have an obligation to our species and our planet to bring accountability and responsibility back to our wonderfull world.
You know, where USA has failed in that part of humanity, suprisingly alot of the other nations we hated so dearly during the cold war have actually realized what we have lost and have started making up for it.
Don't ever get me WRONG!!! I AM AN AMERICAN TRUE AND BLUE!!! I am just making a call to my brothers and sisers to take some of what I have said and look around. Do you still see the AMERICAN DREAM???? Lets bring it back, if not for our kids but for our grandchildren so that we do actually have a legacy that we have left instead of a broken down, depressed, and no American Dream except in history books.
Rock on,
Patrick
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