MDDM why some people see elves and aliens

[Doug Millison]

from the MAPS list:

I came across the following positive review of Rick Strassman's 'DMT:
The spirit molecule' tome, whilst browsing the latest edition of the
American Journal of Psychiatry (159:1488-1449). As access to this
journal is limited to subscribers, I thought I'd take the liberty of
reproducing it here for other readers to enjoy.


"DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research Into the
Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences
By Rick Strassman, M.D. Rochester, Vt., Park Street Press, 2001, 358
pp., $16.95 (paper).
ALISSA HIRSHFELD-FLORES, M.A., LMFT
San Rafael, Calif.
This book is a highly readable, intriguing, provocative description of
Rick Strassman’s theories and research concerning the effects of N,
N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)—a short-acting and powerful plant-derived
psychedelic chemical that is endogenously produced in the human
brain—and what its evolutionary and psychological function might be.
In this intellectually courageous book, which reads more like a novel
than a scientific text, Strassman, Clinical Associate Professor of
Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine,
recounts the history of psychedelic research; the bureaucratic
labyrinth he had to navigate to begin the first clinical research with
psychedelic substances approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration
in more than 20 years; his methods and results (including case
descriptions of what his volunteers encountered while taking the
drug); the dangers of experimentation with psychedelics as well as
possible beneficial effects; and speculations regarding the body’s
built-in mechanisms for contacting spiritual realms. Throughout,
Strassman shares his feelings about his research and the personal and
ethical dilemmas he encountered along the way in an authentic and
honest manner, which makes him a narrator who seems not only
sympathetic but familiar.

Beginning in the 1950s, DMT had been studied as a possible cause of
schizophrenia, before the 1970 Congressional law made further research
nearly impossible. Strassman begins with the question, What is DMT
doing in our bodies? He wonders why the brain so actively seeks it
out, transporting it across the blood-brain barrier and very quickly
digesting it. He hypothesizes that DMT is produced by the pineal
gland—what Descartes termed "the seat of the soul" and what he calls
the "spirit gland"—and is released during naturally occurring
psychedelic states, including childbirth, the dying process, dreams,
and a variety of subjective mystical experiences. Thus, Strassman
posits that human beings have been designed with a biological
mechanism that enabling us to have spiritual experiences.

The research that Strassman describes, conducted at the hospital of
the University of New Mexico between 1990 and 1995, includes a
dose-response study, a tolerance study, and mechanism-of-action
studies to determine which brain receptors mediate DMT’s effects.
Sixty volunteers participated. There was no development of tolerance.
Findings were inconclusive as to which serotonin receptor regulates
DMT’s effects. Throughout the studies, Strassman monitored the effects
of the drug on heart rate, pulse, hormone levels, and body
temperature. For some subjects, he used an EEG or magnetic resonance
imaging head scan to measure which brain sites were most active during
a DMT experience. Throughout his report, he is sensitive to issues of
set and setting; his orientation as a clinician is evident in the way
he counsels volunteers through their psychedelic sessions and in his
thoughtful follow-up with them.

Strassman emphasizes his frustration with trying to fit his spiritual
questions into a biomedical research design. His ultimate goal was to
establish the safe use of psychedelics under supervision and
eventually shift to psychotherapeutically oriented studies.
Unfortunately, Strassman never undertook his next wave of
research—which was to involve work with the terminally ill—because of
a multitude of obstructing factors, including family issues, lack of
collegial support, criticism by his Buddhist community, the complexity
of working with volunteers, ethical dilemmas regarding the use of
psychedelics with the terminally ill, and questions as to the
long-term benefits of psychedelics.

A major portion of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of
what the volunteers encountered during their sessions. These include
the exploration and resolution of personal psychological issues;
out-of-body states in which people experienced their own deaths; a
variety of mystical states in which volunteers experienced a unifying
presence of God within and without the self and a felt sense of love
as the underlying fabric of the universe; and—surprising to
Strassman—a large number of reports of contact with alien beings of
various kinds doing intrusive experiments and/or healing work. Most
volunteers had positive experiences, but there were some scares and
some "bad trips." One volunteer nearly had a heart attack because DMT
normally leads to a flight-or-fight physiological response. Another
older volunteer almost went into shock. One young man had a traumatic
vision of being raped by alligators. Despite some of the beautifully
uplifting experiences of many of the subjects, Strassman was
disappointed to find in his follow-up interviews that the experiences
did not typically produce real change in the volunteers’ lifestyles in
terms of their behavior. None began psychotherapy or a spiritual
discipline to further integrate his or her insights. However, several
reported a stronger sense of self, less fear of death, and a greater
appreciation of life (benefits Strassman may underemphasize).

After allowing himself to venture creatively into hypotheses that DMT
allows contact with dark matter or parallel universes, Strassman
argues that DMT must have provided an adaptive advantage to our
ancestors in allowing access to alternate states of consciousness and
thus perhaps greater problem-solving abilities and greater creativity.
Clearly, there is a need for further research into many of Strassman’s
theories, and he ends by describing ways to investigate the role of
the pineal gland in DMT production and how DMT might be involved in
dreams, childbirth, meditation, and mystical visions as well as in
mediating the exit of consciousness from the body. He also describes
his ideal psychedelic research center and the best use of this
research to promote the highest good, research one hopes Strassman
himself may conduct one day.

This book will be of great use both to researchers and clinicians with
an interest in spiritual/mystical issues and/or in psychedelics as
well as to laypeople. It will undoubtedly also raise concern among
those who worry that Strassman is promoting or condoning the
widespread use of psychedelic drugs. However, he is quite clear about
possible negative effects, urges close medical supervision, and
questions the long-term beneficial effects of psychedelics without the
support of concurrent therapeutic work or disciplined spiritual
practice. Strassman clearly sees a beneficial use for these chemicals
and expresses anger about the ways that psychedelic research has been
mishandled in the past and is hampered as a consequence.

This book opens up doors of perception and encourages us to consider
far-reaching questions. Strassman quotes Jean Toomer in his epigram,
"We do not possess imagination enough to sense what we are missing."
This book does a good job in painting for us the myriad
possibilities."