Psychedelic Healing for the 21st Century

Michael Watts

Description

This short book is packed with fascinating information about one of the most controversial areas of psychiatry - psychedelic therapy. Research within this field of medicine has recently been resumed, having been banned for nearly half a century, and results of completed studies on the effects of psychedelics on war veterans with intractable PTSD and on subjects with treatment-resistant depression, have been very promising. Currently, controlled studies on the efficacy of psychedelic treatment for depression are taking place at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the USA and at the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences, at Imperial College London. The results so far suggest that within a decade, psychedelics could become a legal pharmacological treatment for depression and PTSD. In addition, these substances are known for their ability to dramatically enhance creativity and to provide profound spiritual insights, but perhaps the most fascinating part of this book is the second section which describes the experiences of numerous famous individuals who owe much of their significant success in life to these life-changing chemicals, the list includes: Apple pioneer, Steve Jobs who credits his outside-the-box perspective to LSD, which bestowed upon him an entirely different vision of existence that inspired a lot of Apple's product inventions and success; Francis Crick, the father of modern genetics who perceived the double helix shape of DNA during an LSD trip. The award-winning cosmologist Carl Sagan who stated: "the Hindu mystical experience" of union with the universe " is pre-wired into us, requiring only 200 micrograms of LSD to be made manifest." Oliver Wolf Sacks, author and Professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University: "I'm glad I had the experience. It taught me what the mind is capable of." Susan Blackmore, English freelance writer, lecturer, author of The Meme Machine who stated: "The ultimate psychedelic, whose discoverer is fit and well at a hundred years old, is LSD...Not only can it induce mystical experiences, but can treat neurosis and alleviate pain and fear in the terminally ill. We may be wasting a potential "wonder drug." Tom Robbins, American author named one of the 100 Best Writers of the 20th Century by Writer's Digest magazine: "Frankly, the day I ingested 300 micrograms of pure Sandoz LSD was the most rewarding day of my life, the one day that I would not trade for any other... psychedelics can enhance the life of any intelligent, courageous person, and they might even represent our last great hope for planetary survival." And this list also includes numerous other celebrity figures such as: Aldous Huxley; Chemistry Nobel Prize winner, Kary Banks Mullis; VRML inventor Mark Pesce; New York Times best-selling author and doctor, Andrew Weil; Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous; Rupert Sheldrake; Colin Wilson; Walter Houston Clark; Stephen John Fry; Robert Greene; Robin Skynner; Abraham Maslow; Robert Anton Wilson; Huston Smith; Alan Watts; Ken Kesey; Cary Grant; and Time Magazine publisher Henry Luce, who in the 1950's, subsequently wrote and published in Time Magazine, some very positive articles about the drug's potential, in which he praised Sandoz and LSD itself as providing: "an invaluable weapon to psychiatrists."

Sujets

• Alternative medicine

Informations

• Publié par: eBookPartnership.com
• Date de parution: 20 février 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912022052
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

PSYCHEDELIC HEALING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
By Michael Watts
Illustrated by Gray Jolliffe
Copyright 2017 by Michael Watts BSc
Illustrations copyright 2017 by Gray Jolliffe
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
First Printing: February 2017
ISBN-13 978-1542404044
F OREWORD
This short book is packed with fascinating information about one of the most controversial areas of psychiatry – psychedelic therapy. Research within this field of medicine has recently been resumed, having been banned for nearly half a century, and results of completed studies on the effects of psychedelics on war veterans with intractable PTSD and on subjects with treatment-resistant depression have been very promising. Currently, controlled studies on the efficacy of psychedelic treatment for depression are taking place at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the USA and at the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences, at Imperial College London. The results so far suggest that within a decade, psychedelics could become a legal pharmacological treatment for depression and PTSD. What really surprised/shocked me was to discover toward the end of the book a list of numerous extremely well-known scientists, psychiatrists, philosophers, computer experts and authors who have experimented with these substances!
Dr Joakim Litzberg M.D. (Sweden)
A BOUT M ICHAEL W ATTS
Michael Watts graduated with honors in 1980 with a BSc in Experimental Psychology, (Sussex University). An independent scholar and writer, he has researched widely in philosophy, his specialist interest being in the affinity between East Asian non-dualist philosophy and Existentialism and the implications this has for everyday existence. Over the years, he has also maintained a passionate interest in Qigong and Tai Chi and is a certified instructor of both disciplines. Hobbies: Hanggliding.
Michael has contributed articles to various magazines and national newspapers in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Sweden; these have included USA Today, Fitness Magazine, Toronto Sun, The Sunday Times Magazine, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mirror and Bella. And in Australia: New Idea, Cosmopolitan and Womans Day.
His numerous television appearances include ITV, BBC 1 and Sky News and he has also been a frequent BBC radio guest.
His publications have been very well received by his peers in the academic community worldwide.
Book Publications since Year 2000:
1. The Philosophy of Heidegger, (Continental European Philosophy Series) by Michael Watts, Acumen Publishing, April 2011. (Also published as an e book, September 2014, under same title).
2. Kierkegaard (Philosophers), by Michael Watts, Oneworld Publications, Oxford 2003. (Also published as an e book, September 2014, title: Kierkegaard: An Essential Introduction).
3. Heidegger: A Beginner’s Guide, by Michael Watts, Hodder and Stoughton Educational, London, 2001. (Also published as an e book, November 2014, title: Heidegger: An Essential Guide for Beginners)
4. Heidegger: A Beginner’s Guide, Spanish Language Edition: Heidegger Guia para Jovenes, (Michael Watts) Logues Ediciones, Madrid, 2003)
5. Heidegger: A Beginner’s Guide, Korean Language Edition (Michael Watts): Korean Translation copyright by Random House Joong-Ang Inc. Seoul, 2006.
C ONTENTS
Foreword
About Michael Watts
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Section 1: Professor Nutt & Psychedelic Therapy
Psychedelic Liberation from the Censoring Mind
The Golden Years of Psychedelic Research and its Modern Renaissance
Norwegian Psychologists Exonerate LSD
Support from United Nations Secretary General for MDMA Treatment of PTSD
Switzerland’s Legalized Psychedelic Therapy and LSD-boosted Creativity
Section 2: Famous Scientists, Inventors, Philosophers & Artists who used Psychedelics
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I dedicate this short book to the eminent doctors and scientists who are surfing the leading edge of a tidal wave of modern research that is devoted to examining the true nature of psychedelics.
These scientific “psychonauts” have already discovered that significant medical benefits can be derived from these substances which, if used wisely, also have the potential to trigger a flowering of awareness in humanity, that could lead to a new global vision of reality that will serve as an antidote to our current downward spiral of self-destruction.
My thanks to:
Stanislav Grof; renowned psychiatrist regarded by many as the true “Father” of modern scientific psychedelic research.
Rick Doblin; the founder of MAPS, who has dedicated most of his life toward psychedelic research with the goal of making MDMA an FDA-approved medicine.
Peter Gasser; Swiss psychiatrist. Following the publication in November 2014 of the results of his seven year, MAPS sponsored, investigation, “ LSD-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety associated with a life-threatening disease” , Dr Gasser became the only person in the world to receive official government permission for the “compassionate use” of LSD as a treatment in his private therapeutic practice based in Switzerland.
Peter Oehen; Swiss psychiatrist and colleague of Dr Gasser who was the principal investigator of the Swiss MDMA/PTSD pilot study cosponsored by MAPS and the Swiss Association for Psycholytic Therapy. He is currently the only person on the planet who has been granted government permission for the “compassionate use” of MDMA in his private therapeutic practice in Switzerland.
With gratitude also to:
Robin Carhart-Harris, James Fadiman, Roland Griffiths, Charles Grob, Albert Hofmann, Katherine MacLean, Michael and Annie Mithoefer, David Nutt, Bill Richards, Stephen Ross, Myron Stolaroff and Rick Strassman.
I NTRODUCTION
This carefully researched text provides a reliable, thought-gripping overview of the status of psychedelic therapy, past and present. More importantly, it outlines fundamental reasons why the general public should enthusiastically support the current renaissance of scientific research into the amazing healing potential of these substances.
This renewed enthusiasm for psychedelics comes at a much needed time, since mankind - more than ever before in the history of our species - is facing, on multidimensional levels, numerous serious threats to its survival, so a brand new vision of reality is needed if we are to have any hope in finding appropriate ways of dealing with our increasing problems.
Over the past 60 years of growth, the Earth’s population has tripled, its insufficient resources are rapidly declining, and many climate scientists now believe that it is too late to undo the considerable damage that has already been caused by deforestation and air-water-soil pollution.
A prime example of this destruction can be seen in the oceans, which absorb as much as 25% of all human carbon dioxide emissions. This gas combines with other elements in the water to form compounds such as carbolic acid, and the steadily increasing ocean acidification is already effectively weakening the skeletal system of many of its residents.
In addition to all this, ecologists speculate that in the foreseeable future, water will inevitably become a precious commodity, like Gold or Oil, and as a result, wars may be fought over who has access to the best water supplies.
And the major ity of these planetary crises, current and imminent, are the bitter fruit of our futile attempts to cater for the needs and often selfish desires, of a severely overpopulated, over-demanding species, which is living on a massively under-resourced planet. If this pattern of behaviour continues, then the outlook for the world and it’s inhabitants seems bleak. Psychedelics however may be able to help us break free from our self-destructive habits of living.
The late Robert Muller, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for 40 years, is regarded by many as “the philosopher of the United Nations”. Author of numerous books including New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality , he was also the winner of various prestigious awards including: “UNESCO Prize for Peace Education” and the “Goi Peace Award”, 2003.
Muller was convinced that most hostility between, and within nations, is rooted in religious conflict, and he believed that if genuine mystics from the different religions were to unite and teach peace, that potentially this could catalyse in the general population a widespread experience of mystical unity that might prove to be the perfect antidote to the ever-present and clear dangers of religious fundamentalism.
After viewing evidence which demonstrated that psychedelics can help trigger spiritual, mystical experiences with lasting beneficial effects, and in agreement with Einstein’s viewpoint that “A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive,” Muller successfully helped Rick Doblin, Ph.D., founder and director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), to gain permission from the government to resume psychedelic research.
At this stage it is perhaps of interest for some readers to note that the word “psychedelic” was first coined in 1956, by British-born Canadian psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond (1917-2004) who suggested it in a single line of verse that he wrote in a letter to Aldous Huxley, “ To fathom Hell or soar angelic, Just take a pinch of psychedelic ”. The word derives from two Ancient Greek terms: “psukh ” (english: psyche) meaning “mind” or “soul”, and “dêlos”, meaning “manifest” or “visible”.
Osmond felt that within the context of psychotherapy, this new term, which means “manifests the mind” more accurately describes the effects and function of this type of drug than does the standard term “hallucin