Product Description

An exploration of how LSD influences imagination and the creative process.

* Based on the results of one of the longest clinical studies of LSD that took place between 1954 and 1962, before LSD was illegal.

* Includes personal reports, artwork, and poetry from the original sessions as testimony of the impact of LSD on the creative process.

In 1954 a Los Angeles psychiatrist began experimenting with a then new chemical discovery known as LSD-25. Over an eight-year period Dr. Oscar Janiger gave LSD-25 to more than 950 men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 81 and coming from all walks of life. The data collected by the author during those trials and from follow-up studies done 40 years later is now available here for the first time, along with the authors' examination of LSD's ramifications on creativity, imagination, and spirituality.

In this book Marlene Dobkin de Rios, a medical anthropologist who has studied the use of hallucinogens in tribal and third world societies, considers the spiritual implications of these findings in comparison with indigenous groups that employ psychoactive substances in their religious ceremonies. The book also examines the nature of the creative process as influenced by psychedelics and provides artwork and poetry from the original experiment sessions, allowing the reader to personally witness LSD's impact on creativity. The studies recounted in LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process depict an important moment in the history of consciousness and reveal the psychic unity of humanity.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #695067 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-28
• Released on: 2003-04-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780892819737
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
This title is recommended for larger collections in psychology, anthropology, and New Age shamanism. -- Mimi Davis, Library Journal, August 2003

Review
"This title is recommended for larger collections in psychology, anthropology, and New Age shamanism."
(

Mimi Davis, Library Journal, August 2003

)

“There is no doubt about LSD’s enormous impact on creativity. Unfortunately most artists cannot talk openly about LSD use for their artistic creativity and personal spiritual growth because of the overshadowing ‘War on Drugs.’ This pioneering book shows the value of the psychedelic experience for creativity.”
(CHRISTIAN RÄTSCH, PH.D., author of Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods
)

“With LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process Marlene Dobkin de Rios provides a compelling account of the unique research program conducted by Oscar Janiger studying the effects of psychedelics on creativity. This important contribution should stimulate further investigations into this fascinating yet neglected field.”
(CHARLES S. GROB, M.D., professor of psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine, and author of Hallucinogens: A Reader )

"[Grof's] research into these unmapped areas makes for a fine choice for any new age collection strong in modern consciousness." (
The Midwest Book Review, June 2009 )

"Dr. Grof has helped to give us new ways of seeing the world . . . He has opened a link between the psyche and the spirit."
(Nexus New Times Magazine, Sept-Oct 2009 )

From the Back Cover
This book presents for the first time the results of one of the longest clinical studies of LSD ever undertaken and explores their implications regarding LSD’s influence on creativity, imagination, and spirituality.
In 1954 a Los Angeles psychiatrist began experimenting with a then new chemical discovery known as LSD-25. Over an eight-year period Dr. Oscar Janiger gave LSD-25 to more than 950 men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 81 and coming from all walks of life. In this book, the authors examine the intriguing data collected during those trials, as well as follow-up studies done forty years later.
Author Marlene Dobkin de Rios, a medical anthropologist who has studied the use of hallucinogens in tribal and third world societies, considers the spiritual implications of these findings, comparing them with the experiences of indigenous groups that employ psychoactive substances in their religious ceremonies. The book also examines the nature of the creative process as influenced by psychedelics and includes artwork and poetry from the original experiment sessions, allowing the reader to personally witness LSD’s impact on creativity. The groundbreaking studies recounted in LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process depict an important moment in the history of consciousness and reveal the innate creativity of humanity.
OSCAR JANIGER, M.D., (1918-2001) was one of the first American researchers to study the psychedelic drugs LSD and DMT and was the author of A Different Kind of Healing. MARLENE DOBKIN DE RIOS, PH.D., is a medical anthropologist who has conducted fieldwork in the Amazon on the plant hallucinogen ayahuasca. She has written several books, including Visionary Vine and Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspective. She lives in southern California.

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Customer Reviews

Excellent Presentation of Research
Analysis of Janiger's `50s-`60s study of 968 volunteers who received one to four doses of LSD-25. The list of the range of backgrounds of the study participants is fascinating in itself. Much of the text relates the accounts of the participants experiences. Over the course of the eight-year study several subsets emerged and are discussed.

Interestingly, the overall response of the participants
(only 48 could be found) in the 40-year follow-up, even by those whose experiences included high degrees of discomfort, was positive.

Dr. de Rios's writing is highly readable while retaining sufficient structure and detail to qualify it for citation in the ethnographic literature. Includes a bibliography.