How to Change Your Mind
and risks of psychedelics, 14, 30
See also alcoholism; smoking cessation
Addiction Research Foundation in Toronto, 151
adrenaline, 146
afterglow of psychedelic experiences, 24–25, 254
agnostics and atheists
mystical experiences of, 74, 222, 284–85, 345
and value of meaning, 355
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), 141, 152–53, 370
alcoholism
and Bill W’s psychedelic experiences, 152–53, 370
and Hubbard’s treatment facilities, 171
LSD as treatment for, 141, 148–53, 368–69, 370
and Osmond/Hoffer’s research, 170
and personal history/environment, 370–72
peyote used to treat, 368
and psychotherapy, 369
results from treatment of, 368–69
and Spring Grove’s research, 57, 218
and suppression of psychedelic research, 141–42
Allen, Don, 176–77, 178, 181n, 198, 206n
Alpert, Richard (later Ram Dass)
and counterculture, 205
criticisms of research, 194, 195
defense of research, 196
dismissal from Harvard, 202–3
and Fadiman, 177
and Harvard Psilocybin Project, 188, 189, 190
and International Federation for Internal Freedom, 203
and Johnson, 360
post-Harvard life of, 205
and psychedelics’ escape from the lab, 197
and Weil, 202–3
Altered States of Consciousness (Tart), 99
altruistic behavior, 373–74
amadou, 87, 117
American Psychiatric Association (APA), 141
Ampex, 44, 176
Animals and Psychedelics (Samorini), 123–24
animals’ consumption of Psilocybes, 93, 98, 122–23
antidepressants
discovery of, 147
and loss of effectiveness, 335
and neurochemistry field, 293
and placebo effect, 335n, 382
range of disorders addressed by, 383
anxiety
and autobiographical narratives, 387–88
and default mode network, 387–88
and effect of psychedelics on ego, 271
and mental time travel, 387
and negative thinking habits, 383
during psychedelic experiences, 46, 63
and psycholytic LSD therapy, 156, 159
rumination in, 383
Apollo astronauts, 358–59, 373
artificial intelligence (AI), 325–26
authority of psychedelic experiences, 59, 71, 346, 365–66
autism, 37
autobiographical self, 304, 387–88, 391
awe, experiences of, 306, 373–75, 389
ayahuasca
in addiction treatments, 369n
in group settings, 405
lack of research on, 18
and Pollan’s psychedelic journeys, 410–13
ritual use of, 402, 404
and UDV court case, 27–28
Aztecs, 2, 108–9
bad trips
and backlash against psychedelics, 3
and expectations of therapist, 347
first bad trip, 24
in general population, 209
and LSD therapy for alcoholism, 152
and role of guides, 405
and role of setting, 14
Weil’s “treatment” for, 210
Balick, Michael, 107
Barlow, John Perry, 183
Bay Area tech community, 171, 175–83, 181n
Bayesian inferences, 261–63
Bazer, Dinah, 284–85, 344–45, 355
Be Here Now (Ram Dass), 205
Beatles, 143, 204
Beckley Foundation, 228, 297, 299
behaviorism, 149
being/doing duality, 280–81, 282
belladonna, 152, 370
Belser, Alexander, 351
Bergson, Henri, 56, 162
Bessant, Charles, 360, 361, 362–63
Beug, Michael, 101, 121–23
“Bicycle Day” (April 19), 24
Bigwood, Jeremy, 101
bioterrorism, 89
birth experiences, 155, 176, 240, 279–80, 341–42, 344
Blake, William, 82, 161, 194
Bogenschutz, Michael, 369, 370–72
Boothby, Richard, 65, 67–68, 69, 70, 72, 75
Bossis, Tony
on authenticity questions, 347
and Bazer’s therapy, 344–45
on cultural fear of death, 404
and Mettes’s therapy, 336, 337–38, 340–43, 346, 357
on results with cancer patients, 336
on role of guides, 402
The Botany of Desire (Pollan), 12–13
brain science, 2–3, 24. See also neuroscience of psychedelics
Brand, Stewart, 182, 183–85, 359
Brave New World (Huxley), 160
breathwork, 242–44, 245, 245n, 306
Brewer, Judson
and expansion/contraction of consciousness, 322, 325
and meditation experiment, 392–95
and quieting of default mode network, 305, 306, 322, 390–91
Bronfman, Jeffrey, 49
Bucke, R. M., 289
Buckley, Lord, 157
Buddhism, 16, 288, 305, 392
Burgess, Tammy, 346
Burning Man, 83, 184
Bush, George, 27, 181
Caen, Herb, 204
California Institute of Integral Studies, 232–33, 402
Canada, 147–50, 171, 198
cancer patient research, 331–58
and authenticity questions, 347–49
and birth experiences, 338–39, 344
common themes in, 344–46
criticisms of research, 350n
and death rehearsal process, 346
and fear of death, 8, 79, 336–37, 346–47
and fear/anxiety during treatments, 341, 345
and flight instructions, 338, 341
follow-up study, 351–52
Griffiths’s landmark paper on, 10–11, 29–30
meaning in, 352–55
and mystical experiences, 79, 349, 350–51
at New York University, 332–33, 337–38
origins of, 338–39
and Patrick Mettes, 332, 336, 337–38, 340–44, 346–47, 356–57
and perspective shifts of patients, 339–40
and psycholytic LSD therapy, 159
results of, 349–50
at Spring Grove, 218
treatment rooms in, 331–32
and visions of death, 345–46
volunteers’ accounts of, 351–52
cannabis and marijuana, 36, 37, 138, 138n, 204, 299
Capture: Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering (Kessler), 383
Carhart-Harris, Robin
on consciousness-expansion, 322
and depression pilot study, 329–30, 376–81
on disorganizing effect of psychedelics, 314, 314n
and effect of psilocybin on brain activity, 300–301
and Feilding, 297, 299
and Gopnik, 323–24
on political effects of psychedelics, 315
on predictive/sensory data, 310–11
psychoanalysis research of, 296–97, 311
on rewiring of brain, 316, 320, 327, 384
on value of psychedelic experiences, 315
, 328
See also default mode network (DMN); entropic brain theory
carpenter ants, 89, 96–97
CBS News, 57, 113
celebrities on psycholytic LSD therapy, 156–57, 171
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
and cultural upheaval of the sixties, 206–7
and Hubbard, 166, 171–72
MK-Ultra experiments of, 59, 113n, 172, 172n, 206, 207
and psychotomimetic model, 172
and search for LSD applications, 142, 206
Centre for Psychiatry, Imperial College London, 295–96
Charnay, Amy, 66–67, 73
Chekhov, Anton, 381, 382
children
consciousness of, 323–28
and default mode network (DMN), 312, 328
memories from childhood, 222, 307
problem solving in, 325–28
as R&D stage of species, 327
and suppression of entropy, 328
Claviceps purpurea, 84. See also LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
Cleaver, Eldridge, 204
Coburn, James, 156
cocaine, 7
Cohen, Sidney
ambivalence about psychedelics, 158–59, 175
and Bill W’s psychedelic experiences, 152–53
and Commission for the Study of Creative Imagination, 174, 175
and congressional hearings, 217
and Hubbard, 171, 174, 175
on Leary’s methodological issues, 191
LSD experiences of, 153–54
and LSD therapy, 156
and reunion of first wave figures, 219, 220
on risks of psychedelics, 210–11
on terminal patients, 339
colony collapse disorder (CCD), 89
color blindness, 310
“Come Together” (Beatles), 204
Commission for the Study of Creative Imagination, 174–75
Compass Pathways, 401
computer technology, 183–84, 183n
Concord Prison Experiment, 46, 190–91, 190n, 195
consciousness
and arrival of psychedelics, 2
Bergson on, 162
Carhart-Harris’s theory on, 312–13, 314
of children, 323–28
and default mode network (DMN), 302, 306, 307
expanding repertoire of, 408–9
expansion and contraction of, 322–23
and Huxley’s “reducing valve” concept, 161–62, 289, 307, 313, 322
hypnagogic consciousness, 252
Jesse on, 41
lantern vs. spotlight, 325
Leary on, 187
and meditation, 408–9
neuroscience of, 293–95, 302, 305–6, 307–9, 311–14, 322–23
and our perceptions of reality, 137
and paradox of psilocybin, 85
philosophical approach to, 294
preconceptions, 308
as product of brain, 41, 265
as property of the universe, 56, 264, 314
and quantum mechanics, 413–14
scientific evidence for, 348–49
and trepanation, 298
universal desire to change, 13
value of altered states of, 406–9
conviction associated with mystical experiences, 41, 70–71
Cordyceps, 89, 96–97
Cosimano, Mary, 61, 73
Costa, José Gabriel da, 27–28
Council on Spiritual Practices (CSP), 43, 49–51, 228
counterculture
and computer technology, 183–84, 183n
do-it-yourself approach of, 215
and Eastern religion, 205
efforts to distance psychedelic research from, 84
and generation gap, 215–16
and Hubbard, 181, 181n, 200
inevitability of, 215–16
and Kesey’s Acid Tests, 206–7
and Leary, 203–4, 205
negative associations of, 58
and Nixon administration, 58
psychedelics’ link to, 205, 215–16
and “psychedelics” term, 19
and Ram Dass, 205
and researchers, 215
rise of, 3
and upheavals of the sixties, 205–7, 215–16, 315
and Vietnam War, 215
Coyne, James, 350n
creative imagination, 156, 175, 179, 183, 319
cultural revolution, 175, 197, 205–7. See also counterculture
cybernetics, 183
Dalai Lama, 41
dangers of psychedelics, 14–15, 209–11, 209n
Davis, Wade, 107, 274
death and dying
death rehearsal process, 346, 389
deaths associated with psychedelics, 14, 211
fear of, 8, 78–79, 218, 223, 336–37, 339, 346–47, 353, 355, 404
Griffiths’s outlook on, 79–80
and hospice services, 401
near-death experiences, 306
perceptions of, 68, 70, 79
and Pollan’s psychedelic journeys, 267, 269
reconnections with the dead, 67
visions of, 345–46
See also cancer patient research
default mode network (DMN)
activity reductions in, 300, 304–6, 313–14, 316–20, 322
and autobiographical narratives, 304, 387–88, 391
and children’s brains, 312, 328
and depression, 313, 378, 387–88
discovery of, 301–2
and disorganizing effect of psychedelics, 314n
effect of psilocybin on, 300–301, 304–5
and ego, 312, 313–14, 329, 387, 388
and ego dissolution, 304–5, 351
evolution of, 312
and existential distress, 353
and expansion/contraction of consciousness, 322–23
function of, 301–4, 306–7
key structures of, 301n
and mental illness, 329, 386
and mental time travel, 387
and mystical experiences, 306
overactivity in, 313, 353, 378, 386
and posterior cingulate cortex, 387–88, 391–93
quieting through meditation, 305, 306, 391, 392–95
and relationship to nature, 315–16
and rewiring of brain, 316–20, 353–54
and snow trails metaphor, 385
Delysid (LSD-25), 142–43, 145–46, 216–17
depatterning factor, 124
depression, 375–81
and access to emotions, 379–80
addiction’s links to, 383
and antidepressants, 147, 293, 335, 335n, 382
and autobiographical narratives, 387–88
Carhart-Harris’s pilot study on, 329–30, 376–81
and default mode network, 313, 378, 387–88
disconnection experienced in, 377–78
and ego’s tyranny, 367
and excess of order in brain, 313, 329, 385
inadequate treatments for, 335
and mental time travel, 387
and psycholytic LSD therapy, 156
return of, 380–81
and rumination, 377–78, 383
and studies requested by FDA, 375–76
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), 383
dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 27, 48, 293
Doblin, Rick
ambitions of, 36–37, 401–2
background of, 35
on legalization, 402
and MAPS
, 35, 36–37, 397
and MDMA trials, 48
on progress of field, 397, 403–4
on quality of Harvard-based research, 45–46, 191
The Doors of Perception (Huxley), 25, 143, 160, 162, 201, 253
double-blind trials in research, 208
dreams and dreaming, 155, 292, 297
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 60
drug war, 28, 50, 398
Drugs Without the Hot Air (Nutt), 300n
Dulles, Allen, 165
Dylan, Bob, 114
Dyson, Esther, 183
Eastern religions, 205
eating disorders, 313, 367
ecstasy in psychedelic experiences, 111
ego
and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), 370
and awe-inspiring experiences, 374
and default mode network (DMN), 312, 313–14, 329, 387, 388
excessive control of, 313, 315, 367, 388
and existential distress, 353
and expansion/contraction of consciousness, 323
and fear of death, 339
functions of, 352
and mental time travel, 387
silencing of, 288–90, 394–95
and spirituality, 390
weakened state of, 252–53
ego dissolution
and addiction treatment, 366
attitudes predicted by, 316n
and default mode network (DMN), 304–5, 351
and Griffiths’s landmark paper, 10
in Hofmann’s trip, 24
and mystical experiences, 389
and noetic quality, 42
and Pollan’s psychedelic journeys, 252, 263–65, 270–71, 277
and spirituality, 288, 390
therapeutic value of, 389–90
volunteers’ accounts of, 65–66
Einstein, Albert, 367
Eisner, Betty
on Cohen’s “unsanity,” 154
and Hubbard, 171, 174
and LSD therapy, 156
paranormal interests of, 208
and West Coast research hub, 152–53
Eliot, T. S., 136
emergency room admissions, 14, 209–10
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 136, 286
emotions
access to difficult, 379–80
and cancer patient research, 351–52, 353
inhibited by default mode network, 307
and quieting of default mode network, 317
Engelbart, Doug, 179, 179n, 183–84
engineers’ use of psychedelics, 182
English, William, 179
entheogens, 19, 103
entropic brain theory
and aging, 321
and children’s brains, 312, 323–28
and communications within brain, 316–20, 318–19
and evolution of default mode network, 312
and excess order in brain, 313, 315, 385
and expansion/contraction of consciousness, 322–23