THEODORE X. BARBER UD,.ARIHUAAA, YOGA� HYPAOSIS LSD, Marihuana, Yoga, and Hypnosis Modern Applications of Psychology under the editorship of Joseph D. Matarazzo UNIVERSITY OF OREGON MEDICAL SCHOOL I I I I THEODORE XENOPHON BARBER Medfield State Hospital, Harding, Massachusetts ALDINE PUBLISHING COMPANY Chicago Copyright© 1970 by Theodore X. Barber All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any fo rm or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published 1970 by Aldine Publishing Company 529 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, lllinois 60605 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 73-115935 SBN 202-25004-1 Printed in the United States of America To Catherine, Ted, Rania, and Elaine Preface This book is concerned with the psychological and physiological effects of yoga, hypnosis, major psychedelic drugs (LSD, mescaline, and psi­ locybin), and minor psychedelic drugs (marihuana, hashish, and other cannabis derivatives). These conditions have the following in common: It is generally believed that psychedelic drugs, yoga, and hypnosis give rise to altered states of awareness or consciousness. Psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis are said to tap unu sed potentialities of man. Psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis have traditionally been viewed as part of abnormal psychology and as discontinuous from other known psychological phenomena. Each of these conditions has aroused controversy and emotionalism. Although yoga, hypnosis, and some psychedelic drugs such as peyote and cannabis have been known for many years, research on these topics is rather recent. In fact, practically all of the rigorous research in these areas has been carried out by individuals alive today. The recent research shows that many common beliefs concerning psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis are simply untrue. This text presents a new approach to psychedelics, yoga, and hyp­ nosis. It differs from most previous books in these areas in that it treats each topic as continuous with other known psychological phenomena and as a part of social psychology. The text also differs from most previous treatises in that it does not assume that psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis can bring out unused mental or physical capacities in man, or can heighten awareness or give rise to enhanced creativity, or can produce altered states of consciousness, suspension of conventional reality-orientation, changes in body-image, or changes in perception. • • VII These and other long-held assumptions are critically analyzed ; they will be accepted if, and only if, they are clearly supported by empirical data. In addition to questioning traditional assumptions, the hard-headed approach employed in the text involves the fo llowing: The focus of the book is not on the subjects' unobservable internal states. The question at the forefront is not how to define the state of awareness or consciousness of the psychedelic subject, the yogi, or the hypnotic subject. Hypothetical constructs which refer to unobservable internal states - such as altered state of consciousness, samadhi, or hyp­ notic state - will be held in abeyance while we fo cus on observable phenomena. The question to be asked first is, What overt behaviors and verbal reports are clearly observable when psychedelic drug is taken, yoga is practiced, or hypnotic-induction procedures are administered? Instead of treating the phenomena traditionally associated with psy­ chedelic drugs, yoga, or hypnosis as undifferentiated conglomerates, an attempt will be made to differentiate and treat separately each of the many phenomena associated with each of these areas of inquiry. After specifying the observable overt behaviors and verbal reports that need to be explained, we will delineate observable antecedent vari­ ables that are present in psychedelic, yogic, or hypnotic situations and that might be fu nctionally related to the observable behaviors. Scientific research will be reviewed to determine which of the many antecedent variables present in these situations are important or neces­ sary, and which are irrelevant, in producing the overt behaviors and verbal reports that are to be explained. From the available empirical data, an attempt will be made to assign relative weights to each of the major classes of antecedent variables that play a role in producing each of the behavioral phenomena. Theory construction is viewed as fo llows: Satisfactory explanations of these complex areas of psychology will come about most proficiently, not by prematurely postulating general principles or broad-scope theo­ ries, but by clearly specifying each of the behaviors associated with psychedelic drugs, yoga, and hypnosis, analyzing empirically the validity of each supposed behavioral phenomenon, and patiently isolating empiri­ cally denotable antecedent variables that are instrumental in producing each validated phenomenon. If and when empirical research demonstra­ tes that the consequent phenomena in each of these areas are fu nction­ ally related to specifiable antecedent variables, we should be able to fo rmulate general principles that can explain the antecedent-consequent relations. An integration of the general principles will, in turn, constitute an empirically-based theory in the area of inquiry. It should be emphasized that the book is tied together by the common methodology and manner of analyzing complex phenomena which is found in each chapter. Each chapter questions long-held assumptions, critically analyzes the phenomena associated with the topic, holds in abeyance hypothetical constructs that have been traditionally used in theories of the phenomena, and analyzes the complex antecedent vari­ ables that may be causally related to the complex effects. The major aim in writing this book is not simply to demonstrate the importance of psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis, or simply to present substantive material pertaining to these topics. The main purpose of the book is to illustrate a way of thinking and a method of analysis toward so-called soft areas of psychology. If, after studying the text, the reader is able to think a little more critically and to accept fe wer assumptions when he attempts to understand other psychological phenomena, this aim will have been accomplished. The book is subdivided into two parts. Part A, concerned with psy­ chedelic drugs and cannabis derivatives, includes Chapters I and I I. Chapter I delineates 13 sets of phenomena (overt behaviors, verbal reports, and physiological changes) associated with LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and other psychedelic drugs and attempts to relate these consequent phenomena to antecedent variables that are present in the drug situation. Chapter I I approaches marihuana, hashish, and other cannabis derivatives in the same way and, in addition, critically analyzes a series of long-accepted notions pertaining to these drugs. Part B, which discusses yoga and various hypnotic phenomena and presents a theory of hypnotism, includes Chapters III-VI I. Chapter III (written in colla­ boration with fo rmer yogi Abdulhusein S. Dalal) shows that many popu­ lar concepts concerning yoga and yogic fe ats are fallacious. Chapter IV critically evaluates the contention that suggestions given under hypnosis can produce sensory alterations (e.g., color-blindness, deafness, halluci­ nations), can affect cutaneous fu nctions (e.g., produce blisters, remove warts, mitigate ichthyosis), or can produce a wide variety of other physiological effects. Chapter V critically reviews the empirical data pertaining to the effects of hypnosis on pain, and Chapter VI is con­ cerned with the contention that hypnotic age-regression reinstates be­ haviors characteristic of childhood. Chapter VII fu nctionally relates hypnotic behaviors to antecedent variables (procedural, subject, and experimenter variables) present in hypnotic situations and attempts to unify the empirically-determined antecedent-consequent relations under a parsimonious theoretical framework. T.X.B. Acknowledgments I am indebted to the students who enrolled in my class at Harvard on Hypnosis, LSD, Yoga, and Human Potentialities (Social Relations 98, Junior Honors Seminar) fo r sensitizing me to the need for a book that critically analyzes these topics. The research presented in this text was carried out under four grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, U. S. Public Health Service (MY-3253, MY-4825, MH-7003, and MH-11521). Without these generous research grants, the text would never have been written. I am deeply grateful to Abdulhusein S. Dalal fo r permission to reprint material which we originally coauthored and fo r which he was primariiy responsible, and to the following for permission to rewrite previously published material : the American Psychological Association, Hoeber Medical Division of Harper & Row and the editor of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the editors of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis which is published by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Chapters III and VII are slightly revised versions of papers published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis (A. S. Dalal and T. X. Barber, "Yoga, 'yogic feats,' and hypnosis in the light of empirical research," 1969,11, 155-166; and T. X. Barber, "An empirically-based fo rmulation of hypnotism,'' 1969,12, 100- 130; Copyright 1969 by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis). Chapter IV is based, in part,