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Betty Eisner
Photo by Jon Hanna, 2003
Betty Eisner
Photo used with permisison
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Betty Eisner
Summary
Betty Grover Eisner, Ph.D. was a clinical psychologist who was part of the group of LSD researchers active in Los Angeles in the 1950s and 60s. According to Oscar Janiger, she participated in discussions about potential socially acceptable uses of LSD with a group including Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, Alan Watts, Anais Nin, and Sidney Cohen. Dr. Eisner worked with LSD, mescaline, amphetamine, ketamine, Ritalin, and carbogen with her patients, both in individual and group settings. Some of the sessions she facilitated in group settings included "encounter group"-style expression, experimental combinations of psychoactive drugs and body work. She conducted important early research into the the use of LSD to treat alcoholism, notably with colleague Sidney Cohen.

In 1959, Dr. Eisner participated in the 10th Josiah Macy Conference on LSD. She also served on the Board of Advisors for the Albert Hofmann Foundation before her death in 2004. Her publications and personal correspondence are archived at Stanford University.

Author of (Books)
  • The Unused Potential of Marriage and Sex (1970)