Psychedelics
Psychedelics have reputations ranging from dangerous narcotics to sacraments and breakthrough therapies leading a psychedelic renaissance in psychiatry. The demonization of psychedelics in the War on Drugs harkens back to the witchcraft crazes and executions that characterized the early modern re-encounter with these enigmatic substances. These entheogenic sacraments were labeled as the Devil’s tools by the colonial enterprises of Europe to justify extermination of the practices.
These dualities in perceptions of psychedelics tell us something about their powerful influences, effects that Terence McKenna characterized as their ability to produce hallucinations in people who do not take them! Influences of social context on psychedelics’ effects is recognized in concepts of set and setting, and widely attested to in the articles in Frontiers Special Issue Psychedelic Sociality: Pharmacological and Extrapharmacological Perspectives.
Neurophenomenological perspectives shape my approaches to how psychedelic action on the brain produces their signature experiences (2010, 2017, 2018). The global effects of psychedelics in producing a bottom-up (verses top-down) brain dynamic led me to propose the terms psychointegrators (psychointegration) which describes their macrolevel effects in liberating processes of the ancient brain structures and propelling them into the frontal cortex (1996, 2001, 2007, 2010, 2017).
Therapeutic applications of psychedelics in pre-modern cultures (1996, 1996, 2014, 2021) is supported by clinical evidence indicating their safety and efficacy for a wide range of applications, as shown in Psychedelic Medicine (2007) and Advances in Psychedelic Medicine (2019). These articles by world-renown scholars present scientific evidence for the effectiveness of psychedelics in treatment resistant depression, PTSD, addictions and other diseases of modernity (also see 2013, 2016). This underlies the designation of some psychedelics as breakthrough therapies and their fast-tracking for regulatory approval. Given their action on serotonin, the most important neuromodulatory system, the range of applications is likely far beyond the current understandings. What is lacking is not clinical evidence but political decisions to permit their use (2007).
Psychedelics for treatment of addictions (2014, 2018) is an urgent area for their immediate application given addictions are a major public health concern worldwide. Psychedelics have an unprecedented ability to interrupt the cycle of addictions and provoke the shift in personal orientation necessary for abstinence. What remains to be determined include issues such as condition of their optimal use and the full range of conditions for which they are effective.
A central context for the therapeutic use of psychedelics is provided by shamanism (2010). Shamanism provides support for psychedelic therapy for addictions, including as harm-reduction strategies (2001, 2003, 2004, 2009; also see 2001, 2003). As shown in Shamanism: A biopsychosocial paradigm of consciousness and healing, shamanic ritual practices reflect our evolved psychology (2013, 2015), including innate tendencies shaped by the co-evolution of culture and ritualized psychedelic use (Arce and Winkelman 2021). Adaptations to our innate ecopsychology found in shamanic practices provide guidelines for optimizing use of psychedelics in therapy as outlined in “Shamanic Guidelines for Psychedelic Medicines” (2007) and “The Evolved Psychology of Set and Setting” (2021).
Contemporary studies provide evidence that psychedelic instrumentalization was crucial in addressing challenges and promoting adaptations in the past. Our article “Psychedelics, Sociality and Human Evolution” (with José Manuel Rodríguez Arce; also see 2021) presents evidence that psychedelics played central roles in human evolution, beginning with stress adaptations and incidental healing, to their use in facilitating the construction of the cultural niches that were central to human adaptation and cognitive evolution. The relationship of psychedelic effects to shamanism (2010, 2013, 2021) indicates shamanic healing practices were an outcome of psychedelic instrumentalization within ancient hominin ritual.
Psychedelics were significant sources of spiritual, mystical (2016) and transpersonal experiences (2013) and had primordial effects in the evolution of ritual healing (2021). Psychedelics also had central roles in ancient and contemporary religious traditions, as shown in my introduction (2019) to the special issue of the Journal of Psychedelic Studies on Psychedelics in History and World Religions. Most world religions have a past involving entheogens that illustrates psychedelics are central to understanding the evolution of religion. The Editorial notes that the heralded psychedelic renaissance in psychiatry may be dwarfed by an entheogenic revolution more extensive than the effects of the Protestant Reformation (also see Thomas Robert’s Spiritual Growth with Entheogens).
Articles
2021
Psychedelics, Sociality and Human Evolution. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729425 With José Manuel Rodríguez Arce. ResearchGate link2021
The evolved psychology of psychedelic set and setting: Inferences regarding the roles of shamanism and entheogenic ecopsychology. Frontiers in Pharmacology 12, Article 619890 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.619890. ResearchGate link.2021
Anthropology, Shamanism and Hallucinogens. In C.S. Grob and J. Grigsby (eds.) Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens (pp. 46-67) NY: Guilford Press. ResearchGate link. Publisher link.2020
Ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs. Review of Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (Vol. 1 & 2): 50 Years of Research. Prance, G., McKenna, D., De Loenen, B. and D, Wade (Eds.) Santa Fe, NM: Synergetic Press. Journal of Psychedelic Studies 4(2): 73-76. ResearchGate link.2019
Vaccination with Kambo against Bad Influences: Processes of symbolic healing and ecotherapy. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 51(1): 28-48. (Hesselink, J. and Winkelman, M.) ResearchGate link.2019
Entheogens in Buddhism. Review of Secret drugs of Buddhism: Psychedelic sacraments and the origins of the Vajrayana. M. Crowley , M. ( 2016). Santa Fe : Synergetic Press. Journal of Psychedelic Studies 5(1) DOI.org/10.1556/2054.2020.00161 Researchgate link2019
Introduction: Evidence for entheogen use in prehistory and world religions. Journal of Psychedelic Studies Special Issue: Psychedelics in History and World Religions 3:43–62. ResearchGate link.2019
The “Kamasutra” temples of India: A case for the encoding of psychedelically induced spirituality. Journal of Psychedelic Studies Special Issue: Psychedelics in History and World Religions 3:81-103 (M. Maillart-Garg and M.J. Winkelman). ResearchGate link.2019
The entheogenic origins of Mormonism: A working hypothesis. Journal of Psychedelic Studies Special Issue: Psychedelics in History and World Religions 3:212-260. (R. Beckstead, B. Blankenagel, C. Noconi and M.J. Winkelman). ResearchGate link.2019
Introduction: The Psychedelic Renaissance Continues. Advances in Psychedelic Medicine State of the Art Therapeutic Applications. Pp. 1-10. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO (with Ben Sessa). ResearchGate link.2018
An ontology of psychedelic entity experiences in evolutionary psychology and neurophenomenology. Journal of Psychedelic Studies. 2(1): 5-23. DOI: 10.1556/2054.2018.002. ResearchGate link.2018
Assessment of Alcohol and Tobacco Use Disorders Among Religious Users of Ayahuasca. Frontiers in Psychiatry | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00136 (Barbosa, P., Tófoli. L., Bogenschutz, M., Hoy, R. Berro, L., Marinho, E. Areco, K. & Winkelman, M.). ResearchGate link.2017
Mechanisms of psychedelic visionary experiences: Hypotheses from evolutionary psychology. Front Neurosci. 11, article 539. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00539. ResearchGate link.2016
Psychedelics and Mystical Experiences. Review of Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experience (2016) By William A. Richards. PsycCRITIQUES 61(19) DOI: 10.1037/a0040299 ResearchGate link.2016
The Therapeutic Potentials of Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization. Frontiers in Pharmacology. DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2016.00035 (Frecska, E., Bokor, P. and Winkelman, M.) ResearchGate link.2015
“Hallucinogens and Entheogens,” in Vocubulary for the Study of Religion Vol 2, eds. R. Segal & K. von Stuckrad (Leiden & Boston: Koninklijke Brill) 126-132. (Winkelman, M. and Hoffman, M.) ResearchGate link.2014
Psychedelics as Medicines for Substance Abuse Rehabilitation: Evaluating Treatments with LSD, Peyote, Ibogaine and Ayahuasca. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 7, 101-116. ResearchGate link.2014
Therapeutic Applications of Ayahuasca and Other Sacred Medicines In: The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca. B. Caiuby Labate and C. Cavnar (eds.). Pp. 1-21. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. ResearchGate link.2014
Evolutionary Views of Entheogenic Consciousness. In: Seeking the Sacred with Psychoactive Substances: Chemical paths to spirituality and god, J. Harold Ellens, ed. Vol 1, Pp. 341-364. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO. ResearchGate link.2014
Psychedelic Medicines. The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire: Health, Law, Freedom, and Society. J. Harold Ellens and Thomas B. Roberts, Eds. Pp. 91-117. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO. Researchgate link.2013
A possibly sigma-1 receptor mediated role of dimethyltryptamine in tissue protection, regeneration, and immunity. Journal of Neural Transmission. Published online April 26, 2013 (Frecska, E., A. Szabo, M. Winkelman, L. Luna and D. McKenna.) ResearchGate link.2013
Shamanism and psychedelics: A biogenetic structuralist paradigm of ecopsychology. European Journal of Ecopsychology 4: 90-115. ResearchGate link.2013
Psychedelic Induced Transpersonal Experiences, Therapies, and Their Implications for Transpersonal Psychology. In The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology. Pp. 459-479. Edited by Harris Friedman and Glenn Hartelius. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. (Thomas B. Roberts and Michael Winkelman.). ResearchGate link.2009
Sacred medicines for harm reduction and substance abuse rehabilitation. In The Praeger International Collection on Addictions. Vol 3. Browne-Miller, A. (ed.) Praeger Perspectives: Westport, CT. vol 3, 377-401. ResearchGate link.2007
Therapeutic Bases of Psychedelic Medicines: Psychointegrative Effects. In: Psychedelic medicine: New evidence for hallucinogenic substances as treatments, volume 1. In,. Pp. 1-19. Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood Publishers. ResearchGate link. Publisher link.2007
Conclusions: Guidelines for implementing the use of psychedelic medicines. In: Psychedelic medicine: New evidence for hallucinogenic substances as treatments, volume 1. Michael Winkelman and Tom Roberts, eds. Pp. 271-298. Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood Publishers. (with Tom Roberts). ResearchGate link. Publisher link.2007
Shamanic Guidelines for Psychedelic Medicines. In: Psychedelic medicine: New evidence for hallucinogenic substances as treatments, volume 2. M. Winkelman and T. Roberts, eds. Pp. 143-167. Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood Publishers. ResearchGate link. Publisher link.2005
Drug Tourism or Spiritual Healing? Ayahuasca Seekers in Amazonia J. Psychoactive Drugs 37(2):209-218. ResearchGate link.2001
Psychointegrators: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Therapeutic Effects of Hallucinogens. Complementary Health Practice Review 6(3): 219-237. ResearchGate link.1996
Psychointegrator Plants: Their Roles in Human Culture and Health. Introduction to: Sacred Plants, Consciousness and Healing Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives Yearbook of Cross-cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy Volume 6. Michael Winkelman and Walter Andritzky, eds. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 9-53. ResearchGate link.1996
The Principal American Hallucinogenic Plants and Their Bioactive and Therapeutic Properties. In: Sacred Plants, Consciousness and Healing Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives Yearbook of Cross-cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy Volume 5. Michael Winkelman and Walter Andritzky, eds. Berlin: Verlag pp.205-240. (with Richard Evans Schultes) ResearchGate link.
1989
Psychoactive properties of !Kung Bushman Medicine Plants In: Shamanism and Altered States of Consciousness. Special Issue Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 21(1):51-60 (with Marlene Dobkin de Rios) ResearchGate link
BOOKS AND EDITED VOLUMES
- 2022
Psychedelic Sociality: Pharmacological and Extrapharmacological Perspectives. Frontiers Special Issue Sponsored in: Frontiers in Pharmacology– Neuropharmacology and Ethnopharmacology; Frontiers in Psychology– Consciousness Research and Personality and Social Psychology; Frontiers in Psychiatry—Psychopharmacology; Frontiers in Neuroscience—Neuropharmacology. Edited by Leor Roseman, Michael James Winkelman, Katrin Preller and Evgenia Fotiou. Frontiers Do ResearchGate link. - 2019
Psychedelics in History and World Religions. Guest Editor Vol. 3 Special Issue of the Journal of Psychedelic Studies. ResearchGate link. Publisher site-free. - 2019
Advances in Psychedelic Medicine State of the Art Therapeutic Applications. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO (edited with Ben Sessa). ResearchGate link. Publisher link. - 2007
Psychedelic Medicine: New Evidence for Hallucinogenic Substances as Treatments, 2 volumes. Westport: Praeger/Greenwood Publishers. (Winkelman, M. J., Roberts, T. B. [Eds.].) Publisher link ResearchGate link. - 1996
Sacred Plants, Consciousness and Healing Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives Yearbook of Cross-cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy Berlin: Verlag. Michael Winkelman and Walter Andritzky, eds. Link for introduction. - 1989
Shamanism and Altered States of Consciousness. Special Issue Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 21(1) (Edited by Marlene Dobkin de Rios and Michael Winkelman)
