Following on from my article for the Bulletin, Summer 2004, the
MAPS-funded project to review the literature on research into paranormal
experiences with psychoactive drugs is now complete. It incorporates
more than 200 scientific papers spanning fifty years of research and
is due for publication in spring, 2006 as a chapter in Advances in
Parapsychological Research 9, edited by Stanley Krippner et al., and
published by the Parapsychology Foundation (www.parapsychology.org).
The chapter borrows widely from anthropology, ethnobotany, psychiatry,
psychotherapy, and not least from parapsychology, but this multidisciplinary
approach also owes much to the non-academic explorers of parapsychopharmacology, be they psychonauts, occultists, or shamans. While consideration
is given to a range of paranormal phenomena the review is primarily
concerned with what is known as extrasensory perception (ESP)—telepathy,
precognition, and clairvoyance—as well as out-of-body experiences
(OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). The report includes psychedelic/neurochemical
models of paranormal experience; field reports of intentional and spontaneous
phenomena incorporating anthropological, anecdotal, and clinical cases;
surveys of paranormal belief and experience; and experimental research.
There also includes a methodological critique with recommendations
for further experimental research.
Since their earliest popularization among the intelligentsia, psychedelics,
above all other psychoactive substances, have been noted for their
potential to induce ostensibly paranormal phenomena, for a plethora
of reasons. Much of this reasoning is owed to the time-honored observation
that paranormal experiences such as ESP or psychokinesis, collectively
termed psi, largely occur during altered states. Alterations in the
perception of self, space, and time available through the use of
such substances are of particular value to parapsychological concepts,
which defy the usual rules governing these factors. In a less immediate
sense, psychedelic drugs are also capable of broadening ideas about
reality on an ongoing and durable basis, opening people up to the
possibility of all kinds of transpersonal experiences. Perhaps more
obviously, neurochemicals are doubtless involved in subjective paranormal
experiences and there exist some well-evidenced and reasoned conjectures about the role of tryptamines, -carbolines, and ketamine
in the function of OBEs, NDEs, and apparent psiexperiences (see Jansen,
2001; Roney-Dougal, 1991, 2001; Strassman, 2001).
Pooling reports from a variety of sources, the literature is replete
with accounts of the spontaneous occurrence of ostensibly paranormal
phenomena with the recreational, clinical, and experimental use of
psychoactive drugs. Most of the clinical observations come from psychedelic-assisted
psychotherapeutic sessions, rather than from psychiatric reports,
and at one time it was estimated that ESP occurs with good supporting
evidence in about two percent of such therapy sessions. Considering
all the sources, a whole range of paranormal phenomena are often found
to manifest in unusual and unexpected ways, and the most prominent
feature of these reports is that they tend only to occur with psychedelic,
rather than other psychoactive drugs. This finding can be found rooted
in the traditional divinatory and shamanic use of entheogens reported
in historical, anthropological, and ethnobotanical studies and is
further echoed by several surveys conducted among modern urbanites.
The surveys indicate that people who report paranormal experiences
are significantly more likely to have used psychedelic drugs, with
those reporting more frequent use of these drugs being more likely
to have an experience.
Of those reporting the use of psychedelics, 18–83% reported
psi experiences—most commonly telepathy but also precognition—actually
occurring during drug use. Perhaps surprisingly, only rarely were
psychedelics found to be related to the occurrence of psychokinesis,
but they were cited as a fairly common cause in out-of-body experiences, a phenomenon that seems to occur with most every drug of
this type, but particularly with dissociatives. Furthermore a weak
but consistent relationship was also found between the reported use
of psychedelics, paranormal experiences, and kundalini experiences,
widening the debate on the natural role of endogenous drugs such as
DMT. Belief in the paranormal and a reduced fear of the paranormal
were also found to correlate consistently, although quite weakly,
with the use of psychedelics, begging further investigation of their
use in breaking down fears of the unknown.
Supporting the anecdotal reports, the relationship with paranormal
experiences, belief, and fearlessness tended to be either reduced
or reversed with respect to cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. That there
is virtually no recorded folkloric use of these substances for psychic
purposes compared to the widespread shamanic use of psychedelic substances
for such means is a further testament to the unique power of this
class of drugs for inducing subjective paranormal experiences. While
it is recognized that subjective reports are not scientifically rigorous
in establishing the veridical nature of these experiences, they do
enhance our understanding and offer a rich phenomenological spectrum
of evidence around which to orientate further research. Furthermore,
the similarity in reports between those occurring spontaneously in
exploratory, therapeutic, and accidental contexts and those induced
intentionally in the traditional ritual context gives further credence
to the shamanic use of these substances for paranormal purposes. Regrettably,
very little of the survey research has considered the paranormal
phenomenology of differing drugs but has instead generally just considered
psychedelic drugs as a whole. In response to this I am currently analyzing
data from my own survey into differing trends in drug-induced paranormal
experience conducted with the help of the Bulletin readers, who I
would like to thank, the results of which should be published soon.
In consideration of the real efficacy of psychedelics to induce ESP
the review also evaluates the contribution of more than a dozen experimental
projects that have been conducted, primarily with LSD or psilocybin,
but also with mescaline, marijuana, Amanita muscaria, and, recently,
ayahuasca. The results of these experiments, which began in the 1950s,
varied in the degree of their success, most likely in relation to
the methodology involved. The most successful experiments tended to
utilize participants experienced with the use of psychedelics, and
also utilized free-response testing procedures, rather than forced-choice
scenarios where participants often reported becoming very bored with
the repeated tasks. In retrospect it is easy to see how the more naïvely-designed
projects lost any chance of sensibly testing for anything, let alone
psi, once their inexperienced participants began succumbing to the
mystical rapture of their first trip.
Despite the fact that working with tripping participants and using
quite involved methodologies can be challenging, the results to date
are very promising of the possibility of stimulating psychic abilities
with psychedelics experimentally, although further research with
better experimental controls and improved methodology is necessary.
Nevertheless, experience dictates that factors of set and setting
are fundamental to the psychedelic experience and future researchers
should consider integrating aspects of the shamanic use of entheogens
into their work to ground it. Researchers may even consider conducting
fieldwork within traditional scenarios and other naturalistic environments
of psychedelic use. Other possible experimental techniques advised
include hypnotic procedures to stabilize or re-induce the experience,
paired voyages with emotionally-bonded participants, the use of electrophysiological measures of non-cognitive psychic awareness, and first-person
precognition test procedures that marry the subjective and the objective
and can be conducted solely with the experimenter as participant.
Psychedelic research into parapsychology also has the potential benefit
of identifying psychological and methodological factors conducive
to the apparent expression of ESP through the magnifying effect of
these substances. Some debate still exists as to the reality of psi,
though most from critics working outside of the experimental research
and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to explain away the
growing evidence. Meanwhile, psychedelics could be helpful in better
understanding the process of psi and the psi experience. For instance,
the curious dearth of reports of psychokinesis in this review apparently
indicates something about the expression of ‘pharma-psi’,
inviting virgin research into the nature of psychic healing with shamanic
plants.
Weaving the many investigative stands of this research together it
is clear that psychedelic and parapsychological research have much
to share in exploring the rich tapestry of human potential. There
are also obvious implications for aligned fields, and in informing
psychiatric and psychotherapeutic professionals of the capacity
of these drugs to induce subjective paranormal experiences it is advised
not to assume that these experiences are delusional, although this
may sometimes be the case. Going beyond any a priori prejudices against
the exceptional, it may be of great benefit to see paranormal experiences,
particularly those induced chemically, as meaningful insights into
the experient’s personal growth. At the transpersonal juncture
between what has been considered as either medicine, madness, or magic,
such ‘psi-chedelic’ experiences are perhaps best considered
holistically in relation to the concepts of spiritual emergence and
holotropic states, within the framework of Stanislav Grof’s
‘psychology of the future’ (Grof, 2000).
Sources
Grof, S. (2000). Psychology of the future:
Lessons from Modern
Consciousness Research. New York: State University Press.
Jansen, K. L. R. (2001). Ketamine: Dreams
and Realities. Sarasota,
FL: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
Roney-Dougal, S. M. (1991). Where Science
and Magic Meet.
London: Element Books.
Roney-Dougal, S. M. (2001). Walking Between
the Worlds:
Links Between Psi, Psychedelics, Shamanism, and Psychosis.
Unpublished manuscript.
Strassman, R. (2001). DMT: The Spirit Molecule:
A Doctor’s
Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-death and
Mystical experiences. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press.
|