How to Change Your Mind

Home > Nonfiction > How to Change Your Mind > Page 45
How to Change Your Mind Page 45

by Michael Pollan


  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

 

‹ Prev