Introduction

The LSD experience is essentially the result of a drug-induced state of consciousness which mediates, as Dr. Grof describes, access to deeper realms of memory and the unconscious.

Thus traumatic experiences can be relived within a dual frame of reference, that of both a detached observer and an involved participant. Such an experience can discharge much of the negative potential and other psychodynamic effects of an original trauma.

If the experience regresses to a perinatal state of consciousness it can release deep and fundamental emotions which are ultimately related to the biological stages of birth. The build-up of muscular and character armoring as well as the selection of pleasure and pain may be encountered in this arena and relived in a reverse sequence, leading back through birth into a 'pre-natal' state with a feeling of loss of self or 'ego-death'.

Beyond this stage arise a flow of influences and experiences from the transpersonal or collective memory which suggest a transcendent basis for the re-creation of the self.

Dr. Grof emphasizes that most LSD which is used in self-experimentation — commonly called 'street acid' — is a mixture of impure and thus unreliable and potentially dangerous drugs whose effects are quite different from that of pure LSD. He also reviews all available medical evidence on the relationship between the effects of the drug and chromosome damage, genetic mutation, fetal malformation and carcinogenesis. While his review clearly suggests that the drug is biologically safe, it also cautions against use of the already suspect 'street acid'.

LSD Psychotherapy was written as a medical manual and a historical record portraying a broad therapeutic vision. It is a valuable and complete source of information for those who are involved with LSD in any way, as legislators, parents, teachers, researchers, or through self-experimentation. The approach to LSD research and healing described in this book is objective, yet obviously inspired by the eternal search of mankind for wholeness and an enduring grasp of reality.