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Rhead JC, Soskin RA, Turek I, Richards WA, Yensen R, Kurland AA, Ota KY.
“Psychedelic Drug (DPT)-Assisted Psychotherapy with Alcoholics: A Controlled Study”.
J of Psychedelic Drugs. 1977;9:287-300.
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Abstract
Hofmann's serendipitous discovery of the psychological effeclS of LSD, in 1943, kindled a surge of interest and research concerning the possible implications of LSD and related compounds (principally mescaline and psilocybin) for psychiatry, psychology, religion, and society in general. Among the intriguing reports published during this flood of investigations were a substantial number suggesting that LSD could be used with dramatic success in the treatment of alcoholism (Chwelos et al. 1959; Hoffer & Osmond 1968; Jensen 1962; MacLean et al. 1961; Savage 1962; Smith 1958). However, there were also some studies that found LSD to be of little if any use in the treatment of this population (Faillace, Vourlekis & Szara 1967; Smarr et al. 1967; Soskin 1970). This discrepancy may well have resulted from differences in the manner in which LSD was employed, especially in regard to the attention given to various extrapharmacological variables, There was a tendency for studies using LSD in the context of a fairly intense and unique form of psychotherapy to report more favorable outcomes than those which used the drug in a format more similar to chemotherapy, although exceptions to this tendency can be found (Soskin 1970).
The work of some of the present investigators and their colleagues, using LSD as an adjunct to psychotherapy with 13 5 chronic alcoholics in a double-blind controlled study, was quite encouraging (Kurland et al. 1971; Kurland, Unger & Shaffer 1967; Kurland et al. 1967). In that study the experimental group was given a high dose of LSD (450 JJg) and the control group was given a low dose (50 J.1g). At the six-month follow-up point, the experimental group showed a statistically significant advantage over the control group with regard to drinking behavior and global adjustment, but this advantage did not hold at 12 and 18 months.
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