Amphetamines, barbiturates, L.S.D. and cannabis : their use and misuse / [prepared by Sir Aubrey Lewis].
- Department of Health and Social Security
- Date:
- 1970
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Amphetamines, barbiturates, L.S.D. and cannabis : their use and misuse / [prepared by Sir Aubrey Lewis]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![as a Scandinavian psychiatrist puts it, “contrasted with cosmical experience (effected through LSD), with an understanding of deeper reality and meaning in life, the many analytical problems seem a trifle. Patients who, previously, have gone to analysis for a long time in vain have, face to face with the universe and the higher powers, managed to look at their own problems at a distance’’. The recorded results of the LSD treatment of neurosis are not convincing, in spite of the manifest enthusiasm of many of those who have conducted such treatment on a large scale. Others, however, are less satisfied with the results: one of them (Robinson) concluded that “‘we have no evidence that LSD has a greater value than other drugs’’. It is impossible to reconcile these results with those of an Australian psychia- trist who obtained 47 per cent of successes with LSD as the adjunct to psycho- therapy as against 12 per cent in a comparable group who did not have LSD but only psychotherapy; methodologically, however, this study left much to be desired. A Czech study, evidently less open to this objection, yielded better results from LSD (100 micrograms) given in individual sessions, than were obtained from a contro] group who had no LSD, but the control group did better than a group who had a smaller dose of LSD (S50 micrograms in each session); the number of neurotic patients in the groups was, however, small—eleven or less, and the outcome of treatment was assessed solely from the patients’ replies to a questionnaire. Invariably, in the reported experiments with LSD treatment, the drug has been an adjunct or accompaniment to some form of psychological treatment. One combination from which its proponents report considerable benefit is of hypnosis and LSD. This combined procedure is designed to bring about an altered state of consciousness from which the patient emerges with a feeling of rebirth or rejuvenation, in which he understands the dynamic reasons for his behaviour; ‘almost any theoretical orientation would prove equally effective, provided that the theoretical framework be internally consistent, fit in with the patient and the therapist”. In their most recent report the chief proponents say that a single ‘“‘hypnodelic” treatment can effect dramatic relief of symptoms and constructive changes in attitude, but they do not know how long these will last or which patients are most suitable for the treatment. The combination of LSD with group psychotherapy is strongly advocated by some, including English and Scandinavian psychiatrists, though the diversity of procedure adopted and other handicaps to evaluation are, as usual, prominent. Group experiments have been conducted in such a way that they provided data on the effect of LSD upon social interaction. In one study signs of tension, overt hostility and disagreement increased, though they were not recognized as such by the intoxicated subjects. In another the subjects (university students) were found to be more active and aggressive under the influence of LSD; they attempted fewer solutions to problems set them as joint exercises and they exchanged less information; they were also less accurate in perceiving other people’s attitudes towards them. Use in children There is surprisingly little sign in the literature of LSD that the drug is re-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32175061_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
