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Psychedelic therapy refers to therapeutic practices involving the use of psychedelic drugs, particularly serotonergic psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT, mescaline, and 2C-B, primarily to assist psychotherapy. As an alternative to synonyms such as "hallucinogen", "entheogen", "psychotomimetic" and other functionally constructed names, the use of the term ''psychedelic'' ("mind-manifesting") emphasizes that those who use these drugs as part of a therapeutic practice believe these drugs can facilitate beneficial exploration of the psyche. In contrast to conventional psychiatric medication which is taken by the patient regularly or as-needed, in psychedelic therapy, patients remain in an extended psychotherapy session during the acute activity of the drug and spend the night at the facility. In the sessions with the drug, therapists are nondirective and support the patient in exploring their inner experience. Patients participate in psychotherapy before the drug psychotherapy sessions to prepare them and after the drug psychotherapy to help them integrate their experiences with the drug. According to one Canadian study conducted in the early years of the 1960s, the greatest interest to the psychiatrist was the fact that LSD allowed for the "illusional perception ('reperception') of the patient's original family figures (e.g. father, mother, parent surrogates and helpers, older siblings, grandparents and the like)", typically experienced as distortions of the psychiatrist's face, body or activity. In technical terms, this was called "perceptualizing the transference". ==History== Psychedelic substances which may have therapeutic uses include psilocybin (the main active compound found in magic mushrooms), LSD, and MDMA/MDA (the main active compound in ecstasy). Although the history behind these substances have hindered research of their potential medicinal value, scientists are now able to conduct studies and renew research that was halted 40 years ago. Some research has shown that these substances have helped people with such mental disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, depression, and cluster headaches. Psychedelic therapy, in the broadest possible sense of the term, may have originated from prehistoric knowledge of hallucinogenic plants. Though usually viewed as predominantly spiritual in nature, elements of psychotherapeutic practice can be recognized in the entheogenic or shamanic rituals of many cultures.〔"Shamanic Guidelines for Psychedelic Medicine" by Michael Winkelman, IN Winkelman, Michael, and Roberts, Thomas B. (editors) (2007) ''Psychedelic Medicine: New Evidence for Hallucinogens as Treatments'' 2 Vols. Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood.〕 Some of the well known particular psychedelic substances that have been used to this day are: LSD, DMT, psilocybin, 2C-B, mescaline, MDMA, cannabis, ketamine, ibogaine and ''Salvia divinorum''. Carbogen has also played role in psychedelic therapy research. Shamans have historically been well known throughout the world to mix two or more of some of the listed substances to produce synergistic effects. See psychoactive, entheogen, hallucinogen, psychotherapy, psychonaut, meditation, trance, mysticism, transcendence (philosophy). The use of psychedelic agents in Western therapy began in the 1950s, after the widespread distribution of LSD to researchers by its manufacturer, Sandoz Laboratories. Research into experimental, chemotherapeutic and psychotherapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs was conducted in several countries over the next 10–15 years. In addition to the release of dozens of books and creation of six international conferences, more than 1,000 peer-reviewed clinical papers detailing the use of psychedelic compounds (administered to approximately 40,000 patients) were published by the mid-1960s.〔(Chapter from Lester Grinspoon & James B. Bakalar Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered, A Drug Policy Classic Reprint from the Lindesmith Center, 1997, ISBN 0-9641568-5-7 )〕 Proponents believed that psychedelic drugs facilitated psychoanalytic processes, and that they were particularly useful for patients with problems that were otherwise difficult to treat, including alcoholics, although the trials did not meet the methodological standards required today. One challenge of psychedelic therapy was the greatly variable effects produced by the drugs. According to Stanislav Grof, "The major obstacle to their systematic utilization for therapeutic purposes was the fact that they tended to occur in an elemental fashion, without a recognizable pattern, and frequently to the surprise of both the patient and the therapist. Since the variables determining such reactions were not understood, therapeutic transformations of this kind were not readily replicable." Attempts to produce these experiences in a controlled, non-arbitrary, predictable way resulted in several methods of psychedelic therapy, which are reviewed below. Researchers like Timothy Leary felt psychedelics could alter the fundamental personality structure or subjective value-system of an individual, to beneficial effect. His experiments with prison inmates were an attempt to reduce recidivism through a few short, intense sessions of psilocybin administered weeks apart with biweekly group therapy sessions in between.〔Leary, T.. ''A new behavior change program using psilocybin''. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, Vol 2(2), 1965. pp. 61-72.〕 Psychedelic therapy was used in a number of other specific patient populations, including alcoholics, children with autism, and persons with terminal illness. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「psychedelic therapy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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