Psychological Psychedelic Relief

It’s crazy to see the transformation of opinions on the topic of hallucinogenic drugs. In the 1950s LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, was believed by some people to be a psychiatric miracle drug that cured depression, schizophrenia, addicts, and criminal behavior. It was commonly used as an accepted practice for psychology students in training to understand what the patient was going to go through. 

Aldous Huxley wrote “Doors of Perception” about the experiences of this hallucinogenic trip, which eventually lead to the naming of the band, The Doors. This rock n roll band was apart of the psychedelic rock genre that focused on the message of transition and transformation. The in 1967 song “Break on Through” by The Doors talks about breaking barriers and crossing over to the

other side where things are better. Victor Turner outlines the three steps of transition: detachment from one’s former self, the liminal period where nothing resembles the past or future, and finally the transition is complete and the person is in stable state (Turner, 4). An LSD trip can be described the same way, where the act of taking the acid is escape the former self or psychological abnormality, the liminal period is the acid trip itself, and then finally the person sees reality in a different light after the trip but completely stable. Some psychologists at the time thought the transition that occurs during a LSD trip was the key to help people overcome their psychological suffering.

Because LSD has been documented to change people’s behavior, for example helping AA participants stop drinking, it is believed to tap into one’s subconscious. Freud believes
that the unconscious is processes of the mind that are not available to consciousness and where all the repressed feelings, thoughts, and urges live. The idea of consciousness and unconscious give artists the freedom to portray people’s wildest dreams in their artwork.

Images:

• Dalí, Salvador. Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. Digital image. Park West Gallery. 1 Jan. 1944. Web.  
• Harris, Dave. "Rare Footage of 1950s Housewife in LSD Experiment." YouTube. Web. 16 May 2015.  
• Usher, Melanie. Keep Calm and Break on Through to the Other Side. Digital image. Pinterest. Web.

References:

• Bansal, Gaurav. "How Consciousness is Classified." (2009): 1-4. Print.
• Fink, Robert. "Psychedelic Rituals." Music History 5 Lecture. Los Angeles. 27 April 2015. Lecture. 
• Szalavitz, Maia. "LSD May Help Treat Alcoholism." Time. 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 May 2015.
• Turner, Victor. "Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage." The Proceeding of the American Ethnological Society. (1964): 4-20. Print.
• Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 11 May 2015. Lecture. Online