Original research Med Humanities: first published as 10.1136/medhum-2018-011593 on 23 June 2019. Downloaded from Psychedelic crossings: American mental health and LSD in the 1970s Lucas Richert ,1 Erika Dyck2 1School of Pharmacy, University ABSTRact connections between mental health, LSD and the of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, This article places a spotlight on lysergic acid wider setting, avoiding both ascension and declen- Wisconsin, USA 2 sion narratives. We offer a renewed approach to the Department of History, diethylamide (LSD) and American mental health in University of Saskatchewan, the 1970s, an era in which psychedelic science was history of LSD, a substance that invited speculation Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, far from settled and researchers continued to push on the gap between biomedical understandings of Canada the limits of regulation, resist change and attempt ‘health’ and ‘cure’ and non- medical, even spiritual to revolutionise the mental health market-place . or literary characterisations of distress and wellness. Correspondence to The following pages reveal some of the connections Beneath the disciplinary differences in approaches Dr Lucas Richert, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, between mental health, LSD and the wider setting, to describing mental health and illness lay a more WI 53705, USA; avoiding both ascension and declension narratives. We subtle and complicated set of debates about objec- lucas. richert@ wisc. edu and offer a renewed approach to a substance, LSD, which tive measures of distress and subjective or even Dr Erika Dyck, Department bridged the gap between biomedical understandings anecdotal claims of wellness. Psychedelic therapies of History, University of fit uncomfortably into the rising tide of psychop- Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK of ’health’ and ’cure’ and the subjective needs of the S7N 5A2, Canada; Erika. Dyck@ individual. Garnering much attention, much like today, harmacological interventions, particularly ones that usask. ca LSD created a cross-over point that brought together promised repeatable results that could be measured the humanities and arts, social sciences, health policy, and appreciated using standard empirical and statis- Accepted 12 February 2019 tical methods. Substances like LSD, psilocybin and Published Online First medical education, patient experience and the public 23 June 2019 at large. It also divided opinion. This study draws on mescaline, however, did not produce standard reac- archival materials, medical literature and popular culture tions; these substances instead seemed to operate to understand the dynamics of psychedelic crossings as best when consumers revealed psychological and a means of engendering a fresh approach to cultural and sometimes mystical insights, concepts that were countercultural-based healthcare during the 1970s. difficult to evaluate statistically. Garnering signifi- cant attention, much like today, LSD in the 1970s created a nexus that brought together the humani- ties and arts, social sciences, health policy, medical If the 1950s and 1960s were the original heyday education, patient experience and the public at of psychedelic science, by the 1970s lysergic acid large. It also divided opinion. diethylamide (LSD) crossed over into popular The literature concerning LSD and other psyche- http://mh.bmj.com/ culture. Albert Hofmann, the biochemist who first delics has undoubtedly grown over the past decade. synthesised LSD, began to worry that his chemical In very recent years, numerous scholars including creation was indeed his ‘problem child’. Mean- Patrick Barber, Alexander Dawson, Mike Jay, while, Humphry Osmond, the psychiatrist who had Matt Oram and others have explored psychedelic created the word ‘psychedelic’ through his long- medicines. Wendy Kline has analysed psychedelic lasting relationship with writer Aldous Huxley, birth in Coming Home: How Midwives Changed 1 4 began registering similar feelings of unease. Writing Birth. Meanwhile, Michael Pollan has produced on September 27, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. about the problem with the mental health field in a bestselling and largely progressivist account of the 1970s, Osmond described a general failing in psychedelic science.5 Pollan’s chronicling of the the profession to recognise boundaries and develop ‘rise and fall and rise of psychedelic drug research treatments based on reliable evidence. ‘A good is gripping’, if not remarkable to drugs scholars. doctor’, he contended, ‘knows his limitations and He reminds readers that ‘excitement around any does not set himself up as an all-knowing guru, purportedly groundbreaking substance tends to 2 social scientist, or a universal problem solver’. dim as studies widen’, a phenomenon referred to as He felt many of the abuses in psychiatry (as well career cycles of drugs.6 as in psychedelic science) derived from individual We are not inclined to re- examine the career cycle delusions of grandeur or sweeping extensions of of psychedelic medicine in depth. Our aim here, psychiatric authority to improve societal problems. somewhat differently, is to illustrate how psyche- ‘Limitations’, he suggested, referring to the physi- delics served to bridge some of the methodological © Author(s) (or their cian’s role in mental health research and service distance between quantitative evaluations of health employer(s)) 2020. Re-use 3 permitted under CC BY-NC . No delivery, ‘must be understood’. and wellness, characterised chiefly through biomed- commercial re-use . See rights This article places a spotlight on LSD, psyche- ical approaches, and qualitative considerations for and permissions. Published delic medicine and American mental health in the personal insight and wellness that tended to rely by BMJ. 1970s, an era in which researchers and practitioners more on frameworks developed in psychology, To cite: Richert L, continued to debate regulations, resist change and philosophy and medical humanities more broadly. Dyck E. Med Humanit attempt to revolutionise the mental health market- We argue that this bridging effect reveals what Julia 2020;46:184–191. place. The following pages reveal some of the Kristeva et al have described as a process where 184 Richert L, Dyck E. Med Humanit 2020;46:184–191. doi:10.1136/medhum-2018-011593 Original research Med Humanities: first published as 10.1136/medhum-2018-011593 on 23 June 2019. Downloaded from hard, objective, scientific evidence and soft, subjective evidence fancy light shows entranced the audience. No gaudy song and may be negotiated to co- construct ‘new and shared meanings dance acts distracted from the music. 15 that can create realities with medical consequences’.7 Substances Punk, while one cultural element of many, offered a voice such as LSD inhabit interstitial spaces and may be remod- to a ‘previously excluded community – reaching out to those elled as sociopolitical and economic circumstances require.8 stigmatised by prevailing values while rejecting self-stigma’. 16 Kristeva et al recently questioned the distinction between the Mental health issues could not be ignored. Through punk, ‘objectivity of science’ and the ‘subjectivity of culture’—and we that is, ‘negative stereotypes of mental illness were thrust back argue that a focus on LSD helps to analyse a particular histor- into society’s face, reframed as desirable characteristics, all the ical moment when such a collision occurred in the pursuit of a while lampooning prejudice and discrimination’.16 This was the psychedelic science attempting to blend these otherwise dualistic other side of stigma, a term of course that Erving Goffman so approaches. The following study draws on archival materials, eloquently challenged in the early 1960s.17 The Ramones were medico- scientific literature as well as cultural references to help especially important in interpreting debates in mental health, understand the dynamics of soft and hard evidence as a means according to psychiatrist James McDonald. The lead singer, Joey of engendering a fresh approach to cultural and countercultural- Ramone (real name Jeffrey Hyman), had Marfan’s syndrome, based healthcare during the 1970s. and later in life he was diagnosed with serious obsessive- compulsive disorder. As a teenager, he experienced a psychotic episode, was treated in hospital, and his experience informed THE ‘MentaL WOrld’ OF THE 1970S many of the band’s songs. In particular, the group referenced The decade of the 1970s was surely a significant moment in asylums, padded cells, electroconvulsive therapy and psychosur- American mental health. Radical groups formed and propa- gery, the core features of antipathy that became rallying points gated. They also split, as physicians and survivors found reasons for the antipsychiatry movement. As McDonald put it: to work together and later come apart. Fits and starts in psyche- delic medicine were paralleled by a challenge to mental health No band is as rich in references to psychopathology…as original expertise. Debate was rife, and LSD was not the only subject 1970s New York punks The Ramones. Songs such as ‘Psychother- of discussion. It took place over nosology (the classification apy’, ‘Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment’, ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ and ‘Teenage Lobotomy’, although playing fast and loose with DSM of illnesses), scientific validity and the value of evidence- based criteria, are punk rock classics, mini case- vignettes with a savage, diagnosis. Discussions focused on the forces of modernisation, 18 psychopharmacology, (de)institutionalisation