MDDM why some people see elves and aliens

[none none]

1984,
the inferno

i did find this part might be helpful to some people including myself
"However, several reported [...]less fear of death"


>From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: MDDM why some people see elves and aliens
>Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2002 09:17:43 -0700
>
>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."




_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com