Psychedelics and psychotherapy in Canada: Humphry Osmond and Aldous Huxley.

Abstract

The decade of the 1950s is well known among historians of psychiatry for the unprecedented shift toward psychopharmacological solutions to mental health problems. More psychiatric medications were introduced than ever before or since (Healy, 2002). While psychiatric researchers later credited these drugs, in part, for controlling psychotic, depressive, and anxious symptoms-and subsequently for emptying decaying psychiatric institutions throughout the Western world-psychiatrists also produced a number of other theories that relied on a more delicate and nuanced blending of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. Canadian-based researchers were at the forefront of experiments combining mescaline, LSD, and psychoactive substances later described as "psychedelics." From a relatively isolated setting on the Canadian prairies, in one of the most notorious mental hospitals in North America, this blending of traditions generated a unique approach. A close look at the correspondence between the psychiatrist Humphry Osmond and his friend, the writer Aldous Huxley, who shared interests in psychoactive substances and their effects on perception, and the stimulation of empathy, gives us an opportunity to explore how they developed their psychedelic approach to therapy in the 1950s. The combination of working in an isolated hospital, far from the main research powers in North America, produced a sense of regional incubation and required Osmond to look for collaborators well beyond his own field of psychiatry. (PsycINFO Database Record

Lifetime use of psychedelics is associated with better mental health indicators during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…At the phenomenological, cognitive and behavioral levels, 5-HT 2A agonism is linked to a wide range of effects that alter the conscious experience of the user, such as modifications in the perception of the environment and the self, sedation, stimulation, as well as changes in mood, prosocial behavior, cognitive flexibility, and creativity, among others (Jungaberle et al, 2018;Nichols, 2016;Palamar & Acosta, 2020;Preller & Vollwenweider, 2016;Schmid et al, 2015). These effects attracted the attention of mainstream science during the 1950s, leading to several investigations in healthy and clinical populations (Dyck & Farrell, 2018). However, the widespread availability of psychedelic drugs (mainly LSD) during the 1950s and 1960s, combined with a complex social and political landscape, led to the classification of several psychedelics as Schedule 1 drugs, which effectively shut down most research on these substances and their potential clinical uses (Rucker, Iliff, & Nutt, 2018).…”

Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Aspects of Peyote and Mescaline: Clinical and Forensic Repercussions

“…Similar to several other hallucinogens, and following validation by preclinical research and several pilot clinical trials, mescaline has been claimed useful for the treatment of depression, anxiety, headache, obsessive compulsive disorder and addiction to certain substances, such as ethanol [13,14]. Its use in alleviating ethanol withdrawal symptoms is practiced by the Native American Church, as the pleasant effects and sense of well-being provided by the consumption of mescaline may have led to successful stories on overcoming the symptoms of ethanol withdrawal and a lower prevalence of ethanol recidivism [15][16][17].…”

Mental health, personality and lifetime psychedelic use during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…At the phenomenological, cognitive and behavioral levels, 5-HT 2A agonism is linked to a wide range of effects that alter the conscious experience of the user, such as modifications in the perception of the environment and the self, sedation, stimulation, as well as changes in mood, prosocial behavior, cognitive flexibility and creativity, among others (Schmid et al, 2015; Nichols, 2016; Preller and Vollwenweider, 2016; Jungaberle et al, 2018; Palamar and Acosta, 2020). These effects attracted the attention of mainstream science during the 1950s, leading to several investigations in healthy and clinical populations (Dyck and Farrell, 2018). However, the widespread availability of psychedelic drugs (mainly LSD) during the 1950s and 1960s, combined with a complex social and political landscape, led to the classification of several psychedelics as Schedule 1 drugs, which effectively shut down most research on these substances and their potential clinical uses (Rucker et al, 2018).…”