Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments:
An Entheogen Chrestomathy
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Paula Jo Hruby, Ed.D.
Author Index | Title Index

Modern Therapies.

Binder, Virginia; Binder, Arnold; and Rimland, Bernard. (1976).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.


ISBN: 0-13-599001-7 hardcover

0-13-598995-7 paperback


Description: Hardcover, x 230 pages.


Contents: Preface, 14 chapters in 5 parts: 1. Introduction, 2. Therapies Emphasizing Cognitive and Emotional Processes, 3. Therapies Emphasizing Activity and Behavioral Processes, 4. Therapies Emphasizing Biological Processes, 5. Conclusion, index.


Contributors: Arnold Binder, Virginia Binder, Sidney Cohen, Sherwin B Cotler. Harold H. Bloomfield, William Glasser, Thomas A. Harris, Joseph Hart, Werner Karle, Bernard Rimland, Alexander Runciman, Lowell H. Storms, Lee Woldenberg, Gary M. Yontef.


Note: Chapter 12 "The Use of Psychedelics as Adjuncts to Psychotherapy ," by Sidney Cohen will be of most interest to readers of this guide.


Excerpt(s): It is in the area of the superego that the more important alterations of functioning occur while the patient is under the influence of LSD. These are the changes that I believe are the primary sources of behavior change when it occurs. (page 188)



Obviously one's value system undergoes great transformations . Many of the cultural and provincial taboos and personal aspirations recede. Values assume a more eternal and cosmic quality. Indeed, at the height of the reaction, strong feelings of omnipotence and omniscience can develop, and these require therapeutic assistance. At any rate, day-to-day and pedestrian troubles and problems seem insignificant in the midst of the transcendent experience. This temporary altered perspective may be helpful for those who are overwhelmed by the magnitude of their ordinary problems. If the old superego constraints were much too rigid and too demanding, they might remain relaxed after a transient exposure to the new frame of reference with its more cosmic values.

It can be inferred from what has been said that drastic changes in one's attitude toward one's personal death would occur. The life-death dichotomy disappears. Some patients report an absolute inability to distinguish between existence and nonexistence during the high-dose state. Ordinary fears of one's obliteration are set aside. The dissolution of ego boundaries can be considered a form of psychic death, with the rebirth occurring as the boundaries re-establish themselves. This psychological death can be conceptualized as a discontinuity of experience that may permit a new beginning unburdened by many of the old difficulties. (page 189-190)


From what has been said, it is evident that some high-dose LSD states can produce a condition similar to the spontaneously occurring transcendental experience. Such qualities as ineffability, feelings of mystical union, perceptual brilliance, elation, and awe are mentioned by more than half of those who are given the drug under conditions conducive to a peak or religious experience. (page 190)

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