“

Work works.

” - Arnold Schwartzenegger

                                  potential benefits of psychedelics

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.    J. K. Galbraith

It's important to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.    Traditional

In the column on the left are the titles of a series of blog posts that I've written in the past about psychedelics (some still not fully finished).  Many of the posts on the left are fairly 'academic' and contain a series of links through to this literature.  Several of the posts however are much more personal, describing my own experiences with LSD (taken as a student) and psilocybin (taken more recently legally in the Netherlands).  For a quick overview of the early 2019 research position for psychedelics click through to this 'easy read' article I wrote for the journal "Counselling in Scotland".

And writing again in early 2021, the number of posts in the left hand column has continued to grow.  I now have 556 articles on psychedelics in my personal database, a high proportion of which have been published in the last three years. (And now in mid-2022, my database contains well over 1,000 articles!).  I'm also very involved with the Psychedelic Health Professionals Network.  Do please visit our PHP website for a wealth of options, from a free weekly newsletter, to journal clubs, integration groups, peer supervision, evening classes and residential (legal) psychedelic retreats in the Netherlands.   

And a few additional signposting suggestions to posts on this website - for general benefits of psychedelics, see "Recent psychedelic research: their use in the general population" and for cautions, see "Recent psychedelic research: what are the risks?".  For extensive information about number/frequency of trips, dosage, tripsitters and more, see "Lessons from current personal experience - suggestions".  For more on different doses and different environments, see "Again the pilgrimage - current experience, high dose", "Again the pilgrimage - current experience, low/moderate dose" and (including a discussion about playlists) "Again the pilgrimage - current experience, lessons".  Then I revisit all of these questions more deeply in the sequence starting with "Psychedelics: a group retreat - lessons: ceremonies, duration & organisation".

I neither recommend nor discourage people from taking psychedelics.  For anyone who is considering it, I would however strongly encourage a cautious & thoughtful weighing of the pros & cons.  These are potentially powerful substances.  I think they're much safer than the media & governments have portrayed, but anyone thinking of taking them is likely to be stupid if they haven't looked carefully before they leap - see, for example, both many of the posts on this website and too the UK Psychedelic Society's section on "Responsible use".