Psychointegrator Plants

Psychointegrator Plants

Their Roles in Human Culture, Consciousness and Health

First published in

Yearbook of Cross-Cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy 1995 – pages 9-53

Theme Issue : Sacred Plants, Consciousness, and Healing. Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives – edited by Michael Winkelman & Walter Andritsky

Many thanks to Michael Winkelman for allowing this work to be included for public on-line access as part of the LILA project.

Abstract

The “sacred plants”, which are often called hallucinogens and psychedelics, have played important roles in ancient and contemporary societies, evoking powerful spiritual, emotional, social and cognitive reactions. Their importance for humanity is attested to by findings in many areas: ethnographic research on the cross-cultural patterns of use; clinical observations of their therapeutic effects and properties; neurophysiological laboratory studies on their roles as neurotransmitters; and consciousness studies and theory. Cross-cultural studies of traditions utilizing these substances as therapies, and neurobiological research on their mechanisms of action, have advanced considerably in the last decades. Integration of this research on their effects from biophysiological through psychocultural and cognitive levels has contributed to the development of new perspectives. This neurophenomenological approach suggest that these substances be referred to as “psychointegrators” (from psyche, meaning mind, soul and spirit), based upon their common neurophysiological and experiential properties. Their importance lies in the activation of emotional and personal processes of the limbic system and paleomammalian brain which underlie personal identity, attachment and social bonding, emotional stability, convictions and beliefs, and their integration with neocortex processes.

Psychointegrators stimulate the integration of behavioral protomentation and social-emotional dynamics with language based ratiomernation, egoic representations and personal identity. These biochemically based physiological effects may force: emotional reactions, awareness of repressed memories, integration of emotional and rational processes, and the resolution of conflicts through integration of different functional systems of the brain. This volume provides a broad overview of psychointegrators and the bases for their constructive utilizations. The first section provides a theoretical framework for understanding the importance and significance of these psychointegrators. The second section covers clinical and social perspectives on their uses and effects, particularly as studied within Western biomedicine. The third section provides ethnographic examples of contemporary traditions which attest to the positive roles and functions psychointegrators can play in human societies. This introduction provides a neurophenomenological framework for assessing these substances.

Contents

Introduction

(Overview)

1. Classifying Sacred Plants

(Botanical and Chemical Classifications – Hallucinogens and Psychedelics – Holotropic and Psychointegrative Effects)

2. Pre-historical and Crass-cultural Use of Psychointegrative Plants

(Prehistorical Patterns – Cross-Cultural Commonalities – Origins of Religious Experience – Societal Differences in the Use of Psychointegrative Plants – Psychosocial Functions of Psychointegrative Plants – Summary)

3. Neurotransmitters, Psychointegrators and Organismic Functioning

Psychointegrators and Neurotransmitters – Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators – Serotonin – LSD-like Psychointegrators and Serotonergic Receptors – Acetylcholine)

4. Macrolevel Effects of LSD-Iike Psychointegrators

(Psychointegrative Aspects of ASC – Clinical Studies of Psychedelics – General Effects of Serotonin-Like Psychointegrators)

5. The Role of Psychointegrative Plants in Functional Brain Systems and Consciousness

(Paleomentation: Protomentation and Emotomentation – The Neocortex and Old Forms of Consciousness)

6. Conclusions

7. Literature

Introduction

The “sacred plants”, those substances often called psychedelics and hallucinogens, have played important roles in historical and prehistorical human societies. These substances generally have been viewed as central sources of spiritual inspiration, mystical participation and psychotherapeutic transformation. In contrast to these prevalent cross-cultural uses and interpretations, modern industrial societies had little interest in or concern with these substances until they rapidly emerged into public attention during cultural crises in the 1960s. Psychedelic drugs came into public consciousness as a central aspect of a counter-cultural movement which challenged mainstream cultural values and assumptions. Their interpretation as sources of spiritual experience clashed with central societal values and agendas, leading to national and international debates regarding the appropriate use of psychoactive substances. In a dramatic social reaction against these substances and the threats they represented, many in government, science and medicine condemned them, These substances were outlawed around the world, with a virtual total ban on their use in human therapeutics and research until recently.

Understandings of these substances from biophysiological through psychocultural levels has nonetheless advanced considerably in the last decades. These range from animal studies on neurotransmitter interaction and behavioral neurophysiology to cross-cultural and ethnograpbic investigations on patterns of use and specific therapeutic properties. This has provided the basis for recognizing the fundamental importance of a neurophenomenological approach in understanding their properties, as is illustrated in this introduction which integrates neurophysiology, psychobiology, consciousness studies and theory, clinical observations, ethnographic studies, and cross-cultural patterns of their use. This integration has provided the basis for my introduction of the term “psychointegrator” (from psyche, meaning soul, spirit and mind) to refer to their effects.

Abundant evidence indicates these psychointegrator substances offer important insights into past religious and cultural developments, and provide resources for humanity`s future. Psychointegrators have evoked powerful spiritual experiences and provided inspiration for the institutionalization of religious sentiments and activities. Societies tend to take strong moral and religious stands with respect to psychointegrators, leading to both prohibition of their use and persecution of their users, as well as their institutionalization in religious and therapeutic settings. Recent individual, group and societal involvements in the use of psychointegrative plants have illustrated the continued powerful effects these substances have upon beliefs, emotions and motivations, provoking both religious movements and organized opposition on religious grounds. Societal conflict over the legitimate role of psychointegrative plants has led the U.S. Supreme Court to controversial rulings which set aside constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and the separation of church and state in allowing states to legislate against religion in establishing the illegality of a sacrament, peyote. The powerful effects which these substances have upon beliefs and behavior has affected even scientific inquiry, with proponents and opponents of the use of these substances accusing one another of personal biases and religiously motivated agendas.

There are many reasons why it is important to understand the effects that these substances have upon humans, individually, culturally, and in terms of social and spiritual relations. The powerful roles that these psychointegrators have played in religious development, innovation and practice, as well as in a range of personal and social phenomena and reactions, will persist. The continued reoccurrence of these experiences is inevitable because of the naturally occurring psychointegrators, and the existence of similar endogenously induced experiences. Human use of the potentials of psychointegrators and prevention of their abuse requires an informed understanding of their nature and effects, rather than reactions based upon prejudice and ignorance. This volume provides a contribution towards understanding psychointegrators, the psychobiological bases of their effects, and their roles in human consciousness, religion and culture. The introduction provides a broad interdisciplinary summarization which develops a neurophenomenological perspective. It is grounded in an understanding of the biochemical and psychodynamic properties of these substances which explains their uses and effects on human experience. This integration of knowledge of neurophysiological action of the substances with their cross-cultural uses provides a basis for referring to their effects as psychointegrative.

Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing by Michael Winkelman

Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge edited by Jeremy Narby and Julian Huxley

Hallucinogens and Shamanism edited by Michael Harner

The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience by Professor Benny Shannon

The important roles of psychointegrative plants in cultural and religious development are illustrated in pre-historical, historical and cross-cultural data on their central functions in religious and spiritual activities. The similar cross-cultural patterns reflect their neurophenomenological basis, manifested in the similar interpretations of their spiritual, religious and therapeutic properties. As LA BARRE (1972) pointed out, understanding the pharmacological effects helps to illuminate their central role in many cultures as a source of religious and spiritual inspiration, shamanic ecstasy and visionary experience.

The effects of psychointegrators upon brain processes, perception, emotion and cognition derive from their similarity to neurotransmitters, and from their ability to evoke experiences derived from the underlying neurophenomenological structures of the human brain/mind. The close physical similarity of psychointegrators to natural neurotransmitters enables them to have powerful effects upon mental and psychological functions and reveal natural structures of the human mind as structured by the physiology of the brain (see articles by GROF and NARANJO this volume).

The most fundamental role of psychointegrators is shared with other means of inducing altered states of consciousness (ASC), and their institutionalization in human societies. This is represented in shamanism and related ASC based healing practices found in all cultures (shamanistic healers), reflecting the universal institutionalization of the psychobiological potentials of ASC (WINICELMAN 1986a, 1986b, 1990, 1992). Psychointegrative plants have central roles in the practices of these shamanistic healers, often serving as central means for inducing ASC in their training, and in community rituals for healing. The role of these ASC lies in their functional effects, linked to the physiological changes which facilitate healing and divination.

The universal presence of ASC in shamanistic healing practices is psychobiologically based, derived from the characteristics of human physiology and the systemic functional effects of ASC. Psychointegrators and other ASC induction procedures have systemic effects upon the autonomic nervous system, characterized by limbic system discharge patterns inducing interhemispheric synchronization and coherence and limbic-cortex integration (MANDELL 1980, 1985; WINKELMAN 1986a, 1991b, 1992). This integrates brain functioning from neurophysiological to cognitive levels in ways which permit the manifestation of specific human potentials. These potentials of human consciousness are reflected in the transpersonal psychologies and contemplative traditions of many esoteric Eastern schools of thought and practice (e.g., Buddhism). Cross-cultural use of psychointegrative plants also stimulates these potentials and served as one of the original sources of ASC-based healing and religion in humans.

The cross-cultural similarities in the use of many plants and the common experiences and interpretations require a neurobiological explanation. A review of the neurotransmitter actions of psychointegrators provides a basis for explaining the cross-cultural similarities in their use. Neuronal and experiential data suggest that psychointegrative substances have the capacity to evoke integrative responses of the organism. The effects of psychointegrators upon sensory, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and psychodynamic experience and processing are reviewed to illustrate their adaptive advantages in stimulation of integrative information processing. Activation of prelinguistic aspects of brain function enhances human consciousness by integrating pre-linguistic social, emotional and behavioral processes with the frontal Cortex`s linguistic and egoic aspects of consciousness and awareness. This systemic integrative effect of these substances is why I have introduced the term psychointegrator to refer to them.

Overview of Volume

This volume provides a contribution towards understanding psychointegrators, the psychobiological bases of their effects, and their roles in human consciousness, religion and culture. The introduction provides a broad interdisciplinary summarization in order to develop a neurophenomenological perspective grounded in an understanding of the biochemical and psychodynamic effects of these substances which explains their uses and their effects on human experience. The first section of articles introduces theoretical frameworks for understanding the importance and significance of these phenomena within the broader context of human consciousness. The second section provides perspectives from Western clinical medicine on the effects of these substances. The third section covers examples of contemporary traditions of use of psychointegrator plant substances which illustrate the positive roles and functions they play in human cultures and individual psychodynamics.

The first section`s theoretical orientation provides a context for placing the experiences induced by psychointegrators in the broader context of consciousness theory and research. Research prompted by psychointegrators has provided new perspectives on the nature of human consciousness, revealing information about the structure of the brain/mind which has both theoretical and practical significance. As Grof points out, the phenomena revealed in consciousness research and by the effects of psychedelic drugs can not be accounted for by the models of consciousness derived from Freudian psychology or Western medicine. GROF has provided alternative models of the nature of human consciousness, derived from his clinical research on psychedelics and holotropic breathwork. GROF`s article details the transbiological realms of the perinatal and transpersonal levels of experience and their relevance for humans` knowledge of themselves and the universe at large. His work has provided new means of exploring the personal biographical level of consciousness and therapeutically addressing memories and conflicts embedded at this level. As GROF and NARANJO point out, the religious and spiritual experiences
induced by psychointegrators are not unique to these substances, reflecting general principles of ASC and their psychodynamics. NARANJO examines the utility of psychointegrators in the exploration of the human mind and consciousness, suggesting that psychedelics activate Kundalini phenomena, a high level of organismic self-regulation resulting from the suspension of the ego and the activation of mental structures. His analysis of the psychedelic experiences in light of experiences of advanced meditators illustrates that psychedelic substances activate structures of the human mind. NARANJO also makes the important point that the activation of these structures by drugs is different than the capabilities which meditators achieve through the rigorous disciplines they follow. KRIPPNER points to the creative and constructive influences of psychedelic substances as manifested in the religious artwork of many cultures. But as KRIPPNER`s interview illustrates, these creative influences are mediated by psychocultural dynamics. Psychointegrator induced experiences may ritualistically guide creative potentials into traditional patterns, or conversely, free the artist from traditional cultural constraints. Both cultural and personal needs for expression can be enhanced by the use of these substances.

The second section of articles provides an overview of clinical research on these substances and their broader social and professional implications. YENSEN`s article reviews the major paradigms that have guided the use of psychedelic agents in humans. He explores the uses of psychedelic substances in terms of four views or paradigms: shamanic, psychotomimetic (mimicking psychosis), psycholytic (mind dissolving), and psychedelic (inducing mystical experience). He assesses the set and setting influences determining the outcomes with these substances and provides suggestions for training of clinician/experimenters in their use. GROB and BRAVO examine the past lessons learned from human research with hallucinogens to provide guidance for future human research and to assess current trends and research. They look at the history of the Western political and medical repression of hallucinogens and the implications of the recent formal authorization for human research with hallucinogens by United States regulatory agencies. The recently initiated contemporary studies and the limitations placed upon such research are reviewed to illustrate the developments in these areas. The article by GASSER provides an overview of the development of psycholytic psychotherapy in Switzerland. His study and the long term followup and use of WHO classifications provides the basis for assessment of the types of patients most likely helped through the therapeutic process. NEBELKOPF`s article describes the effect of LSD and shamanistic healing practices on the human services in the U.S. through following the career of a human services shaman/healer. NEBELKOFF examines the free clinics and therapeutic communities that developed in response to the psychedelic revolution and the broader social responses. He concludes with an examination of the contradictions in our current drug laws and the implications for health care planning and reform. PASSIE provides a historical overview of the development of psycholytic research in Scandinavian countries. He emphasizes the development of more precise indicators for treatment, and the general findings about improvement in patient progress through therapy which was achieved with the psycholytic approach.

The third section of the book provides perspectives on the cultural use of psychointegrator plants. primarily within the Americas. SCHULTES and WINKELMAN review the bioactive principles and therapeutic applications of seven major families of hallucinogenic plants used among the indigenous cultures of the Americas. The ethnographic data provides a basis for generalizations about the patterns of psychointegrator use and illustrates a wide range of applications of these plants, even with the same species. Highly developed pharmacological and ritual healing traditions selectively utilize set and setting factors, as well as pharmacological variations across species, to obtain a range of effects. The use patterns suggest that the importance of the psychointegrator plants lies in the ability to assist adaptation to a wide variety of circumstances and conditions. GROISMAN and SELL analyze the social and therapeutic aspects of the ritual and religious use of the psychoactive drink Santo Daime (Banisteriopsis spp.) by groups in Brazil which organize themselves into communities. They investigate health and illness conceptions and the symbolic world to construct a sociocultural and neurophenomenological model which explains the effectiveness of the Daime healing system in terms of the neurobiological effects which establish an equilibrium and maintain well-being. MABIT, GIOVE & VEGA`S paper discusses the adaptation of ayahuasca in the treatment of cocaine addicts in the Peruvian Amazon. Their approach has carefully adopted the traditional procedures, including diet and abstinence, in order to fully incorporate the healing wisdom of these ancient traditions. Their analysis indicates that the psychoactive plants are but one of the essential ingredients in the overall therapeutic process. Their article details the lengthily process of detoxification and therapy based upon both plants and rituals. RATSCH`S article reviews the historical and contemporary uses of the Psiloybe mushrooms as entheogenic agents. The increasing use of these substances in Western cultures for self-exploration, mystical and spiritual development, and as problem-solving devices is discussed in terms of a “returning” cultural tradition. RATSCH characterizes the basic ritual structure of this modern entheogenic mushroom cult which he has observed around the world. GARTZ provides a consideration of the history of uses of psylocybin mushrooms and the problems associated with their applications in therapy. GARTZ discusses the range of psychological responses, including psychotic states and mycophobia. While there are no concerns about toxicity from these species, it is easily confused with species which do have toxic effects. JACOBS assesses the uses of the Datura genus among the aboriginal populations in North America. He shows that it was used for medicinal, ceremonial, and religious purposes and differentially employed in ways which reflect an understanding and control of its dangerous effects. These groups distinguished the individual use of Datura for medical and divinatory purposes from the group use in initiation ceremonies. Datura`s effect of producing retrograde amnesia functions as a means of separation for social transformation. SANCHEZ-RAMOS & MASH provide an overview of the pharmacotherapy of drug-dependence with ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloid extracted from the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga. They review its use among the peoples of Western Africa and the development of its use within Western medicine. It came into use among addict rehabilitation groups as a means of interrupting opiate and stimulant dependence. SANCHEZ-RAMOS & MASH report on their pre-clinical evaluations of ibogaine`s potential to treat drug dependence in studies to assess its safety, metabolism and pharmacokinetics. ANDERSON`S article addresses the use of the cactus peyote (Lophophora williamsii). He reviews the botanical and biochemical properties of the species, along with the early use by Western physicians. There has been limited clinical use of mescaline, but peyote is widely employed as an important medicine in the Native American church. The conclusion by ANDRITZKY & TREBES assesses the constructive visionary, creative and healing potentials of hallucinogens in industrial societies. The potentials of these substances are illustrated by Holland`s drug experiments, self experimentation by psychiatrists and nurses, in courses for artist and managers, and by others who employ them for insight and learning. Lessons learned from the decriminalization of drugs in Holland, combined with perspectives from cultures which traditionally use hallucinogen based therapies, suggest directions for solutions to persistent problems of drug abuse and addiction. The phenomena of drug addiction are analyzed as a result of the lack of legal guided experiences with hallucinogens.

1. Classifying Sacred Plants

There are a plethora of terms and diverse referents to psychointegrators – psychotomimetic. psychodysleptic, phantastica, deliriant, psychedelic (mind-manifesting), hallucinogen, entheogen, mysticomimetic, euphorohallucinogen and others – and no consensus as to which, if any, are appropriate. Considerable disagreement exists as to the meanings of the basic terms and the effects or classes of substances which they delimit, even among those specialists who have dedicated their careers to studying these substances. There is even disagreement as to the nature of the basic effects. STAFFORD (1992) follows current trends in titling his book Psychedelics Encyclopedia, but ANDREW WElL (1992) points out in the Forward to STAFFORD`s book that he would not include as psychedelics many of the plants discussed by STAFFORD. WElL prefers to restrict the use of the term psychedelic to the “true psychedelics,” the indoles and phenethylamines, which stimulate serotonin and dopainine pathways in the central and sympathetic nervous systems without resulting in toxicity or dependence. These psychedelics contrast with other alkaloids with hallucinogenic effects in lacking toxicity, side-effects and complications. Yet WElL also recognizes that toxic substances with undesirable side-effects can be “mind-manifesting” in some circumstances. SCHULTES & HoFMANN (1979) also make this differentiation of true hallucinogens from psuedohallucinogens. the later being toxic plants which produce visual and experiential effects similar to the hallucinogens. These terminological problems in part stem from the lack of a single botanical grouping or chemical classification for the diverse plants and substances which produce a range of interrelated effects.

Botanical and Chemical Classifications

The widespread similarities in the experiential and phenomenological effects of hallucinogens, and even substantial similarities in aspects of the interpretations and applications (e.g., spiritual, therapeutic) suggest a common underlying physiological basis. But while the commonalities suggest that there should be botanical and chemical similarities providing a basis for grouping these substances together, there are no common botanical or chemical classes which encompass all of the recognized hallucinogenic and psychedelic substances. The natural hallucinogenic substances are found in a great variety of species, genera and families (e.g., see the nearly 100 species discussed in SCHULTES & HOFMANN [1979]). The psychedelic substances are not even confined to plants alone, as some species of toads also secret hallucinogenic substances, and have been incorporated into religious mythology and inconography of Mesoamerica as a result (FURST 1976; DOBKIN DE RIOS 1984). The hallucinogenic plants are, however, concentrated in two main families: 1) the fungi, including the diverse species of mushrooms and the ergot parasite (natural source of the dilysergic acid diethylamide. LSD); and 2) angiosperms, the principal group of plants on the earth (SCHULTES 1972: SCHULTES & HoFMANN 1979). However, only a small percentage of the plants in these families are hallucinogenic, making these broad botanical classifications virtually useless in identifying the unique nature of these plants. Similarly, hallucinogenic substances are of the chemical class of alkaloids, with their actions primarily derived from nitrogenous alkaloids. Yet most alkaloids do not have hallucinogenic effects, eliminating any simple chemical basis for their classification.

While lacking botanical or chemical commonalities. most of the different hallucinogens and psychedelics are nonetheless equivalent in terms of their overall psychobiological effects (see sections 3 and 4 below). HOLLISTER (1984) points out that LSD, phenylethylamine (e.g., mescaline) and indolealkylamines (e.g., psilocybin) are virtually identical in their clinical effects, with the major differences being in terms of their potency. These substances act upon brain physiology at the level of neurotransmission (JACOBs 1984a), derived from their similarity to neurotransmitters and their ability to effect their normal functioning. The possibility of characterizing psychointegrators in terms of their effects at the level of neurotransmission has been explored (see section 3). Most classifications proposed have, however, been on the basis of subjectively defined criteria, which pose additional problems.

Hallucinogens and Psychedelics

The exact denotations of terms like hallucinogens and psychedelic remain ambiguous. The present basis for classification as a psychedelic or hallucinogen is on the basis of subjective effects upon human experience, rather than botanical, chemical or physiological criteria. This reflects a number of factors, including ignorance about the substances and differing perspectives on the nature of their effects. But these conventional conceptualizations of these substances have limiting assumptions about the underlying nature of the effects and their desirability, and fail to capture important aspects of the experiences. This undermines the usefulness of the terminology, as the following illustrates.

Hallucinogen is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) (MORRIS 1981) as a drug which produces hallucinations, false perceptions which have a compelling sense of reality in the absence of relevant stimuli. This reflects a medical definition of an hallucinogen as a chemical agent “whose most prominent pharmacological action … elicits optical or auditory hallucinations, depersonalization, perceptual disturbances, and disturbances of thought processes”(STEDMAN 1982: 618). These hallucinations are further defined as a “strong subjective perception of an object or event when no such situation is present” (p. 618). Such definitions make a value judgement as to the “reality” of the perceptions. They insist upon the faulty nature of the perceptions, in spite of their phenomenological presence and the profound significance and truth which users and cultural institutions have found in them. The inaccuracy of the implications of hallucination is further illustrated by findings that some of the visual experiences (hallucinations) reflect neurophysiological properties of the CNS and visual systems (e.g., entopic phenomena, KLUVER 1966).

The hallucinogens have been characterized as those compounds which are capable of producing hallucinations – sights, voices, thoughts – when used in non-toxic doses, and generally without causing mental confusion, memory loss or disorientation (SIEGEL 1984). Hallucinogens are characterized as having predominate effects on thought, perception and mood, but with minimal intellectual impairment under minimal doses, and with an absence of severe disabling effects. This distinguishes the hallucinogens and psychedelics from other substances which produce visual phenomena when ingested in toxic or lethal doses. The term hallucinogen, nonetheless has negative connotations and misleading assumptions about their effects, implying undesirable conditions, and suggesting they are false perceptions and debilitated conditions. Examination of the cross-cultural use and interpretations of these substances called hallucinogens and psychedelics reveals a very different set of assumptions. These involve a perceived spiritual realm which is viewed as veridical and a source of important information and cultural inspiration. This contrasts with the emphases of the terms hallucinogen and psychedelic, which imply delusions and false perceptions, and ignore their symbolic content and significance. The characterization of a substance as a hallucinogen, with emphasis on non-veridical perceptual experience, fails to address the extensive and powerful effects on human experience and cognitive frameworks. Further problems with the term hallucinogen include that virtually any substance will cause hallucinations at toxic levels. The problem is only partially resolved by the definition of hallucinogens as substances which produce hallucinations at non-toxic doses, since they also share other important properties.

Psychedelics are similarly defined (in AHD) as pertaining to hallucinations or distortions of perceptions, including those states resembling psychosis. Medical perspectives recognize that psychedelics are “a rather imprecise category of drugs” (STEDMAN 1982:1163). But the definition does not avoid a judgement about the presumed nature of the psychedelic effects – “said to be the expansion or heightening of consciousness” (STEDMAN 1982: 1163). The generally pathological medical characterization of the effects of psychedelics does not incorporate central aspects of the phenomenological experiences produced by these substances. The original meaning of the term psychedelic, applied to the experiences produced by LSD, was quite different. Psychedelic means “mind manifesting,” referring to the extraordinary conceptual impact upon human experience and understandings. The root term of psychedelic, psyche, refers to mind, with more ancient referents to soul and spirit. This reflects some of the more general implications of the term among users of these substances, referring to non-ordinary spiritual or mystical experiences induced by these substances. But these connotations and the social movements and cultural crises associated with them has made the term “psychedelic” undesirable to those who wish to separate themselves from those implications.

Holotropic and Psychointegrative Effects

The lack of widely accepted terminology for referring to these substances has often led to the interchangable use of terms like hallucinogen and psychedelic, rather than providing distinctions among their meanings and referents. This in part reflects the common psychocognitive effects of these substances, as well as a lack of knowledge about their more specific effects and mechanisms of action. The shortcomings of the medical and lay characterizations of these substances has led to the development of new terms to conceptualize their most fundamental effects from the point of view of the users who have embraced their effects and implications. This was manifested in the term “entheogen” (WASSON ET AL. 1986), from the Greek entheos, referring to “the god within,” and gen, “action of becoming.” Entheogen`s reference to “the god within” reflects the often reported experience of contact with the spiritual world which welled up within many while under the influence of these substances. The core effects of these substances are also broadly captured by STAFFORD`S (1992) characterization of psychedelics as eliciting spiritual experiences, promoting healing, and facilitating solving of problems without toxic or addictive effects, and expanding the scope of the operation of the mind, making it highly susceptible to set and setting influences in adapting to diverse needs and circumstances. GROF suggests that an underlying effect of the psychedelics is to “raise the general level of energy in the unconsciousness and amplify the psychic and psychosomatic processes … mak[ingl it possible to observe ... exteriorizations of the immanent dynamics of the unconscious mind" (1989: 55). GFOR has proposed the use of the term "holotropic," referring to an orientation towards wholeness provoked by the psychodynamic actions of these substances. "Holotropic" does capture central aspects of the experiential effects of these substances, and provides an alternative to the more negative and politicized terms. Yet holotropic also fails to explicitly emphasize the spiritual, emotional, and cognitive aspects which are so salient in the cultural systems which use these substances. Similarly. FERICGLA`s (1994) suggestion of the label "nonspecific adaptogens which act through means of mental imagery" slights the emotional and spiritual aspects of their effects.

The need for new terminology is made evident by the limitations of and misconceptions implied by the numerous terms in widespread use to refer to these powerful botanical agents so often viewed as "sacred plants." Psychotropic is an established term used to refer to agents which affect the psyche, particularly those used in the treatment of mental illness. While some sacred plants may be considered to be psychotropic, their scope of effects is much greater than that traditionally implied by the term, particularly with the focus of psychotropics upon the treatment of mental illness. Determination of their central effects and appropriate characterization of their nature required an interdisciplinary synthesis. I wish to suggest a more appropriate terminology, based upon the common characteristics of the systemic neurophenomenological effects of these substances. I propose that the neurophenomenological bases of these substances, in essence the congruence of neurophysiological effects and phenomenal experience, suggests their characterization as psychointegrators.

The psychointegrators stimulate mental and emotional processes to force the organism towards an integrative holistic growth state. The compound word holo-psycho-tropho-tropic would capture these effects, reflecting: stimulation of holism and integration of the soul, mind and spirit for growth and development. Unfortunately, this compound term does not have the conciseness and fluidity desirable, although it does reflect the overall effects of the substances referred to as hallucinogen, psychedelic, etc. I suggest, therefore, the use of psychointegrator to refer to these substances and their constructive effects. The emphasis on psyche refers to not only the mind given emphasis in more recent meanings, but also the soul and spirit, the broader bases to which psyche once referred, and the phenomena central to the interpretations of these substances in most cultures. Psychointegrator therefore implies the stimulation of the mind, emotions, soul and spirit to integrative development, consistent with the patterns of experiences and uses of sacred plants in both individual and collective social processes.

My use of the term psychointegrator in place of hallucinogen, psychedelic, psychotomimetic, and others is not to preclude further terminological differentiation of the diverse substances and effects characterized here as psychointegrative. Rather it is to call attention to their commonality in stimulating emotional, mental and experiential transformations and integration. The terms hallucinogen, psychedelic, etc. are also still used here to represent the vocabulary and ideas of others whose work is discussed.

2. Pre-historical and Cross-cultural Use of Psychointegrative Plants

The original use of psychointegrative plants and their institutionalization in cultural practices remains unknown, but widespread evidence indicates their ancient and worldwide use in religious traditions. Their cross-cultural use is consistently associated with a few principal themes, including magico-religious and therapeutic applications and mystical, sacred and spiritual interpretations of their effects (DOBKIN DE RIOS 1984; SCHULTES & HOFMANN 1979). Cross-cultural research also indicates systematic variation in these practices, reflecting the effects of social conditions.

Prehistorical Patterns of Psychointegrative Plant Use

When human societies first began to use psychointegrative plants and incorporate their influences into institutionalized practices remains unknown. The dated use of conventionally recognized psychointegrative plants by humans is within relatively recent periods. Sophora secundiflora (mescal bean) was employed by Paleolithic and Pleistocene groups of Western North America as long as 10,000 years ago; recovered artifacts and ethnographic analogy suggest its use in vision quests and other shamanic practices (FURST 1976). The antiquity of psychointegrator plant use in the Old World can also be traced to at least 10,000 years ago in the use of Cannabis (SCHULTES & HOFMANN 1979). But the use of psychointegrative plants is likely much older. This is suggested by the numerous medicinal plants found in burials in the Shanidar cave (dated over 50,000 years ago). Mast of the plants in the burials have contemporarily recognized medicinal potentials. A number of these medicinal plants became so fundamental to European herbal medicine that their local names often literally mean "healer." The widespread presence of psychoactive substances in the plant world means that human foragers inevitably and repeatedly discovered them in their exploration of the environment. The sophisticated understanding of the medicinal plants in the environment suggests that these humans were as equally aware of those plants with powerful psychointegrative properties.

LA BARRE (1972) suggested (following WASSON) that Mesolithic or Paleolithic mushroom cults were common to the predecessors of the first Native Americans, the proto-Indo-Europeans, and the Paleo-Siberian and Uralic cultures, representing practices associated with shamanistic visionary cults. Psychointegrative plants have been central agents in the repertoire of human`s botanical resources. The impact which psychointegrators had upon the users` cultures and their conceptual frameworks is evidenced in their incorporation into religions throughout the world. From the earliest recorded civilizations to diverse pre-state societies of recent history, psychointegrative plants have been viewed as sources of sacred inspiration and a means of ritual contact with the spiritual world set apart from everyday life.

The ubiquity of psychointegrator plant use in the New World is widely documented (e.g., see SCHULTES & WINKELMAN`S article here; SCHULTES & HOFMANN 1979; WASSON 1980; WASSON a AL. 1974, 1986). The ancient Paleo-Siberian immigrants to the New World likely carried with them cultural traditions based upon the use of mushrooms and other psychointegrative plants. Even the major civilizations of the indigenous peoples of the New World had psychoactive plants at the core of their, religious beliefs and practices. These included a near universal use of tobacco, as well as an extensive range of other plant species. Native American religions were characterized by the presence of the ubiquitous shaman who guided personal experience of the supernatural realm and direct contact with the spiritual forces of nature. Psychointegrators played a vital role in inducing these experiences.

The Old World also has abundant evidence of historical and pre-historical use of psychointegrators. STAHL (1989) analyzes the presence of hallucinatory themes and ecstatic practices associated with the Venus figurines in the Late Neolithic art of Hungary. Cannabis has probably been employed by humans far aver 10,000 years (SCHULTEs & HOFMANN 1979), with use for medicinal, spiritual, nutritive and practical purposes documented across the Old World. The religion of the ancient Scythians incorporated inhalation of the fumes of Cannabis, which also played important roles in the sacred systems of ancient Vedic and Chinese religions, as well as those of Tibet and the Mahayana Buddhists. EMBODDEN (1972, 1989) has documented the extensive role of narcotic and hallucinogenic plants in religions of many Old World cultures, including the ancient Egyptian dynastic priest-shaman royal cults, based upon the use of the genera Mandragora and Nymphaea, along with opium. Representations of these plants were prominent in religious art forms, and eventually came to be central aspects of religion and mythology. The substances were employed as a form of healing and shamanistic training, in purification and public ceremonial, and in death rituals and rites of resurrection. The divine Soma. the god plant of the Vedic religion of ancient India, has been widely recognized as a psychoactive substance. The use of hallucinogenic ergot alkaloids has also been described among the ancient Greeks in their Eleusian Mysteries (see SCHULTES 1972: SCHULTES & HOFMANN 1979; REIDLINGER 1990; FURST 1972).

Cross-Cultural Cainmonalities in Psychointegrator Plant Use

The cultures which have utilized psychointegrative plants typically view them as powerful spiritual forces and medicinal resources, with central places in their religious systems. SCHULTES& HOFMANN`S (1979) book Plant of the Gods illustrates that the use of these substances typically involves magico-religious and therapeutic applications. The ubiquitous mystical, spiritual, and medicinal uses are illustrated in the fourteen principal genera they consider at length, as well as the more extensive group of 91 plants they review. Similarly, DOBKIN DE RIOS` cross-cultural review of the use of hallucinogenic plants also illustrates that they all have medicinal and/or religious/mystical uses. DOBKIN DE RIOS (1984; DOBKIN DE RIOS & SMITH 1977) reviews universal features associated with the use of hallucinogenic plants in religious rituals. These include: establishing direct contact with the supernatural; their use a means of healing; a belief in their animistic properties (in-dwelling spirits); relationships with animals as a source of power; transformation into animal familiars; the death of the ego and its transformation; their use in the processes of divination; and their functions in the promotion of social solidarity. Principal aspects of hallucinogen use found cross-culturally involves establishing personal relationships with a spiritual dimension of reality and reinforcing interpersonal and community relations. The induced experiences have effects upon personality in: entering into a personal relationship with a reality established in a mythical time; developing relationships with an animal spiritual realm which is the source of power and self identification; the dissolution or death of the ego and its resurrection and transformation: and social rituals to enhance social identity formation, group integration and cohesion, and to reaffirm cultural values and beliefs.

Studies in many cultures uniformly indicate that these substances alter personal and sensory experience of the world in a dramatic way, shifting self-awareness to an "other-worldly" experiential domain interpreted as sacred, spiritual or mystical. This other worldly domain is employed to manage relations of an important personal and social nature. The ubiquitous simultaneous therapeutic, religious, spiritual and medicinal roles of these plants has implications for understanding the nature of human consciousness and the spiritual. These substances affect world views in evoking certain classes of experiences and a recognition of a spiritual dimension in human nature and the collective aspects of human identity. These interrelationships of spirituality and consciousness with the psychophysiological effects of plant substances have important implications for the epistemology of human consciousness and knowledge.

The Origins of Religious Experience

The world wide distribution of beliefs in spiritual and mystical effects of psychointegrators, coupled with their profound effects upon human experience, has led to the suggestion that they had a pre-historical role as progenitors of religion, as indeed many groups claim (c.f., LA BARRE 1972). The "flesh of the gods," "voices of the gods." "the sacred language," "little saints," and other phrases used to refer to psychointegrators indicate that many religions did view their practices as inspired by the indwelling spiritual influences of the plants. Many religions which have these substances as central features of their ritual, sacrament and deity are undoubtedly cases in which a universal human need for religious experience found its coalescence and inspiration around the experiences induced by psychointegrative plants.

LA BARE (1972) called attention to the potentials of hallucinogens to stimulate the visions which often give rise to religious validation or new religious traditions. He suggested that hallucinogens direct attention towards inner experiences and help to reveal the aspects of the human subconscious which were represented in supernatural and spiritual beliefs. LA BARE discusses how the supernatural reflects the subjective world of human experience and basic aspects of human perception and consciousness. The functions of religion in dealing with anxiety may be exemplified in the medical religious use of psychointegrators. LA BARE suggested that the crises cults often associated with hallucinogenic plants can be seen as societal "defense mechanisms" or psychosocial transformation processes, discussed by WALLACE (1956) as "mazeway resynthesis." LA BARE also discusses the role of the charismatic shamanistic leader in emotionally motivating the social group with a spiritually inspired guidance derived from visionary experiences, frequently induced by psychointegrative plants. These shamanistic cults institutionalized and sustained the collective social use of these plants.

The use of psychointegrators as therapeutic agents is closely tied to shamans, who formed the original basis in hunting and gathering societies for the universal distribution of healers who utilize ASC as a basis for healing and divination (WINKELMAN 1990). "Shamanistic healers" is a term I have employed to refer to the universal institutionalization of practitioners who use ASC as a fundamental aspect of professional training and in community rituals (WINKELMAN 1989, 1990, 1992). Shamanistic healers utilize ASC because of their adaptive potentials in the systemic integration of human brain functioning and information processing. The biophysiological brain transformations underlying the induction of ASC cause functional changes which facilitate the emergence of human capacities such as healing and divination, and the potentials embodied in visionary, transpersonal and transcendental experiences and realizations.

The ASC essential to selection and training of shamanistic healers and their therapeutic practices can apparently be released spontaneously by psychointegrative plants. These ASC occur spontaneously under a wide variety of circumstances - injury, extreme fatigue, near starvation, or accidental ingestion of toxic plants or psychointegrators - or as the consequence of a wide variety of procedures which induce these states. These diverse circumstances apparently provided the basis for the independent discovery, invention, and creation of shamanistic practices (WINKELMAN 1990, 1992), derived from principles of neurognostic structures and manifested in neurophenomological universals (LAUGHLIN ET AL. 1990). The experiences under these influences had profound effects upon self and world awareness, and were often institutionalized in ritualized practices of healing and community integration.

Psychointegrators and Mystical Experience

The potential of psychointegrators to induce religious, spiritual and mystical experiences through their inherent properties is phenomenologically attested to cross-culturally, as well as experimentally demonstrated. The parallels of mystical and psychedelic experiences have been reported by experienced meditators and spontaneously offered in subjects` subjective evaluations of their experiences while participating in clinical studies of LSD. This propensity of psychedelic substance to induce mystical experiences was formally investigated by PANKHE (1972) in his classic Good Friday experiment. This double blind controlled experiment formally addressed the contention that the psychedelic drugs provoke experiences similar to the classic mystical experiences. The classic conceptualizations of the fundamental features of mystical experience were gleaned from scholarly work on mysticism. Twenty Christian graduate theological students were assessed in terms of their mystical experiences and their attitudes towards self, others, life and mystical experience. On Good Friday in a chapel setting, matched pairs of students were randomly selected to be blindly administered 30 milligrams of psilocybin or the control group treatment of nicotinic acid. Eke-treatment evaluations, experimental assessments, and follow-up questionnaires allowed for a series of comparisons between the two groups to assess the psilocybin effects. Significant differences were found in the direction of greater mystical experience for the psilocybin group on all of the nine major dimensions of mystical experience. Six month follow-ups found significant life-enriching effects for the psilocybin group, with eight of the ten subjects reporting profound impacts upon their religious feelings and thoughts.

JORDAN (1972) also compared the principal effects of the hallucinogenic drugs with the various types of mystical experiences, elucidating the essential similarity of their natures, and their contributions to the psychology of religion. The major similarities between LSD induced and mystical experiences include changes in the sense of self and its relationship to god and the universe, as well as a sense of unification with the universe. HOUSTON & MASTERS (1966) also pointed to similarities with mystical experiences in the well-recognized clinical phenomena of LSD leading to transcendental experiences of "cosmic consciousness," a feeling of unity with the universe, and an ineffable nature to the experience. While mystical and psychointegrator induced experiences are by no means identical (see NARANJO here), the parallels indicate that they have similar effects upon human experience, reflecting the manipulation of similar aspects of the brain.

Societal Differences in the Use of Psychointegrative Plants

Psychointegrative plants arc central aspects of many religious systems throughout the world; vet their use is by no means universal. The relationship of psychointegrator plant use to the nature of social organization provides insight into their social functions. In spite of the physiological basis for their effects and their adaptive functions, psychointegrators are not used in all cultures in the same fashion nor with the same evaluation of their importance or potentials. Cross-cultural differences in the use of psychointegrative plants are widely recognized. The dramatic differences in the number of hallucinogenic plants used in the New World cultures (exceeding one hundred) with the relatively few used in the major Old World cultures was noted by LA BARRE (1970). LA BARRE suggested the widespread hallucinogenic plant use in Native American societies represented the persistence of the shamanistic practices which formed part of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Eurasian traditions of the Paleo Siberian migrants to the Armericas. While these influences were ubiquitous in the Americas. they did not persist in many other parts of the modern world.

The differential distribution of hallucinogen use noted by SCHULTES & HOEMANN (1979), LA BARRE (1970), FURST (1972) and others has been attributed to cultural factors, since there are many hallucinogens in areas of the world where they are not considered religiously important or used. But other factors are also responsible for the lack of emphasis on their use in the Old World, and in some New World societies as well. Cross-cultural research indicates the importance of institutional social and political factors, as opposed to strictly cultural factors (e.g., beliefs), in the differential use of hallucinogens. FURST suggests the absence of shamanistic practices in the state level societies of Europe was a result, in part, of the lack of emphasis on the use of hallucinogens. I suggest that the causal factors should be reversed; hallucinogen use was rare because of the lack of shamanistic cults. Hallucinogenic plant use is associated with types of religious rituals such as those found in shamanistic practices. Such practices are typically found in small scale societies, but are not typical of the religious activities of more complex societies.

The effect of increasing social complexity on repression and restriction of hallucinogenic drug use and ecstatic/ASC magico-religious practices has been proposed and tested in several investigations (DE RIOS & SMITH 1977; JORGENSEN 1980; WINKELMAN 1991c). Cross-cultural differences in the institutionalization of hallucinogen use are primarily derived from broader changes in society and the institutionalized bases and functions of religion. ASC traditions concerned with healing are universal, but the interpretations of ASC and the forms of induction procedures used differ as a function of social complexity (WINKELMAN 1986a, 1991b, 1992; BOURGUIGNON 1976; BOURGUIGNON & EVASCU 1977). As societies grow in structural complexity, there are changes in the use of and access to plant hallucinogens and other ASC induction procedures as well. DE RIOS and SMITH (1977) proposed that as societies evolve from egalitarian to hierarchical structures, the use of hallucinogenic plants is usurped by the elite segments and eliminated from widespread use. Restriction on access to shamanistic ASC also appears to occur with increasing political centralization. As the presence of sodalties increased, the use of vision quests by shaman and the access to vision quests by the general populace also declined among Native American groups (JORGENSEN 1980).

Changes in ASC traditions as a function of social and political complexity have been examined wit cross-cultural data (WINKELMAN 1991c) on the relationship of social conditions to different types of ASC (and drug) induction procedures in training of magico-religious practitioners. The presence of psychointegrative drug use is significantly and negatively correlated only with the levels of political integration, with other social complexity variables contributing no additional explanation of variance. The use of psychointegrative drugs in shamanistic healers ASC induction procedures declines with increasing political integration of the society. This lends support to the hypothesis of the psychointegrator origins of religious experience, since they are characteristic of less complex societies than were those with non-drug shamanistic ASC. This supports the hypothesis of the origins of shamanism in the serendipitous discoveries associated with ingestion of psychointegrative plants, but it does not demonstrate that they were necessary progenitors of shamanism or all early religions. Psychointegrative plant use is also positively correlated with agriculture, indicating an increased use associated with social evolution. Thus while the psychointegrative plants enter into some religious traditions, they are not necessarily the progenitors of religious behavior. Nonetheless, the strong correlation with political integration indicates that psychocognitive dynamics induced by psychointegrators may have inherent conflicts with the global social needs of hierarchical politically integrated societies, as the following examination of their psychosocial functions illustrates.

Psychosocial Functions of Psychointegrative Plants

The reasons why increasing political integration should lead to a repression of and restrictions on psychointegrators is a consequence of their patterns of use and their effects upon social relations and personal interpretations of the world. Psychointegrators are generally used in social or interpersonal settings, where the set and setting (expectations about the experience, and the factors in the immediate setting) play powerful roles in eliciting and shaping experiences. Shamanistic healers manipulate set and setting to guide individual experiences under these substances, and as tools of manipulation and control in religious, political and social areas. DOBKIN DE RIOS & SMITH (1977) suggest that hallucinogenic plants could be seen as a threat to the religious interpretations of the legitimate social power, and are therefore typically repressed in state level societies. Their typical use in interpersonal settings with idiosyncratic interpretations could pose a threat to hierarchical control of religious consciousness and therefore to central political authority. The therapeutic and ritual applications enhance group cohesion and reaffirm social values and beliefs. Key aspects of the traditional applications of hallucinogenic plants include inducing a profound visionary experience within a mythical time and reality which is guided by collective cultural traditions and used in a social context which reinforces traditional cultural values, beliefs and goals. These community based rituals would reinforce a traditional community based mythos and social order, as opposed to the ideological and political orders promulgated by the state religions.

DOBKIN DE RIOS & SMITH (1977) suggest that the use of hallucinogens in rituals designed to harness the negative use of supernatural power would also create strong social needs for their control. The association of shamanistic practitioners with witchcraft has been documented by HARNER (1973b), who reviews the widespread use of hallucinogenic plants among some of those persecuted as witches in Western Europe by the Inquisition. The Inquisition`s attack upon those accused of being witches can also be seen as involving, in part, an effort to eradicate a competing religious ideology and practice based in the use of psychointegrative plants. Cross-cultural studies (WINKELMAN 1992) have verified this association of the activities of shamanistic healers and sorcerer/witches, indicating the evolution of the former into the latter.

Cross-cultural differences in hallucinogen use suggests that social transformation required psychosocial adaptations which were facilitated by the psychointegrator`s behavioral, emotional and cognitive effects. The use of hallucinogens in the context of cultural change is a means of facilitating adaptation to changing psychosocial circumstances through mediation between old and new conceptual systems. The therapeutic uses of psychointegrator plants as a means of achieving psychodynamic adjustment necessitated by social or cultural changes are illustrated in the Navajo adoption of the Native American Church (peyote religion), the use of ayahuasca in the Amazon basin, and the cross-cultural use of psychointegrative plants in initiations.

ANDRITZKY (1989) discusses the widespread use in the Amazonian basin of combinations of the Banisteriopsis genus with other hallucinogenic or potentiating additives. Ingestion in collective rituals by the adult members of the community assists in dealing with the problems of acculturation by mediating between the Euro-American and indigenous worlds and strengthening social cohesion and group identity. This symbolic synthesis of the traditional and new is through the use of emotionally relevant images of culture change from the indigenous point of view. ANDRITZKY discusses how the treatments and associated therapeutic practices serve as a method of symbolic confrontation in adjusting psychosocial dynamics, facilitated by the ayahuasca, which apparently gives the user conscious access to the process of symbolization.

ABERLE`s (1966) work on the historical development of the peyote religion among the Navaho illustrates some of the typical patterns of cross-cultural use of hallucinogens in psychosocial therapeutic adjustment. ABERLE suggests that early Navajo adherents to the Peyote Church were a selective group who used the peyote religion to assist in their psychosocial adjustment. Those who experienced the greatest relative deprivation were predominant among the early Navajo adherents to the Native American Church. Peyotism was also used in adaptation to other conditions created by the European American society and its disruption of traditional social relations. ABERLE suggested that the Native American Church was a reference group with close relations which met needs for approval and esteem, and provided a new ethical code which facilitated an adjustment between Native American values of collectivism and the individualism of the broader society.

The use of psychoactive plant substances in facilitating adjustment is also found cross-culturally in the context of initiation. GROB & DOBKIN DE RIOS (1992) have examined the cross-cultural adolescent use of hallucinogenic drugs. They point out that the abusive use patterns reported in modern industrial societies strongly contrast with the adaptive and integrative patterns of managed societal use which is found cross-culturally. In other societies, hallucinogen use has been managed by elders as a means of inducing directed ASC which serve purposes of resacralization. These collective puberty initiation rites provide collective experiences for an age cohort in channeling individual growth and development in transition to adult status. The use of psychoactive plants in the context of social development is attested to by the papers of this volume as well. JACOB`S paper elaborates upon these themes in a discussion of the widespread use of Datura among Native American groups for medicinal, social and therapeutic purposes. The use of Datura follows two primary patterns. One is the well recognized use in healing and divinatory practices. The other is in the context of adolescent initiation ceremonies, where the plant is employed as a means of inducing retrograde amnesia. The amnesic effects create the sense of separation widely recognized as an element of the social transformation process. GROISMAN & SELL (this volume) document a similar use of Santo Daime, a mixture of Banisteriopsis and other psychoactive plants. These substances are used as therapeutic agents and as central aspects of collective rituals of the new self-sustaining communities developed around their use. In addition to its numerous psychotherapeutic uses, Santo Daime serves as a key element in the symbolic world view which sustains and integrates the community.

Summary

Psychointegrative plants have a range of religious and therapeutic applications, as well as important social functions in initiations and rites of transition. Their use, however, is not uniformly distributed, but reflects strong social influences which lead to a diminution of these practices in more complex societies. The application of these substances and their success in affecting psychological and social status can be understood in terms of their effects upon brain activity and consciousness. The psychointegrators have played an important role in the discovery and utilization of neurophenomenological structures of human consciousness. As the following sections illustrate, psychointegrators manipulate interactions among structures and functions of the human brain, integrating behavioral, emotional, interpretive and social aspects of human experience. Their fundamental psychobiological similarity with mechanisms of other ASC means that psychointegrators must be understood more broadly in the context of transpersonal states of consciousness.

The cross-cultural patterns associated with psychointegrators suggests that an underlying biological substrate is responsible for the specific effects and interpretations, and can explain cross-cultural similarities in use patterns and psychocognitive effects. This is not to suggest that cultural uses of psychointegrators are derived solely from their physiological effects. The experiences induced by psychointegrative plants, even the same species, can be quite varied (e.g., see SCHULTES & WINKELMAN this volume), illustrating the effects of cultural programming and influences (set and setting) in mediating their effects. The variation in experiences under LSD (e.g., psychosis, emotional abreaction, depersonalization, mystical experience) reflect the state of emotional lability which is produced and effected by expectations and environment (YENSEN 1985). The different findings from the three medical paradigms of hallucinogens` and psychedelics` effects (psychomimetic, psycholytic and psychedelic; see article here by YENSEN) illustrate the powerful influences of these extrapharmacological factors. The extrapharmacological influences also represent other cross-cultural similarities in their use to create a vivid link of the individual with central cultural themes and motifs. Shamanistic healers extensively manipulate these set and setting factors as an integral part of the treatments (BRAVO & GROB 1989). The therapeutic ritual is usually under the direction of individuals who personally know the clients and their personal situation, and use this information in guidance of the patient`s expectations of the therapeutic encounter and their experiences under the influence of the psychointegrators. The singing, chanting, mythological referents and other symbolic elements of the ritual elicit and shape the patient`s experiences and emotional reactions. The shamanistic healer also frequently follows the patient for a period of time after the session to assure a successful therapeutic outcome.

The cross-cultural similarities in the use of psychointegrative plants and the common interpretations do reflect, however, a biological mechanisms. These similarities reflect underlying neurophysiological effects of these substances upon the brain and experience, and require a neurophenomenological model for explaining the uniformities (e.g., WINKELMAN 1991b). The importance of biological mechanisms in explaining the cross-cultural similarities in perceptions and behavior under the influence of these substances is indicated by the similarities in the behavioral effects upon humans and other animals (JACOBS 1984).

The attribution of biologically determined aspects to psychointegrator induced experiences is not to reduce the experiences to the biological factors alone. Both human and animal studies indubitably implicate environmental factors - the set and setting - in the unfolding and interpretation of psychointegrator induced experiences and behavior. For example, one of the frequently noted effects is that the normal boundaries between the individual sense of identity and the outside reality become blurred or completely eliminated. The interpretation of this experience is quite varied, however, ranging from feelings of possession, loss of sense of self, and depersonalization, to ecstasy, cosmic union, and transcendent mystical states. Nonetheless, there are cross-cultural similarities in experiences which are derived from the common basis which many psychointegrative plants share in their interaction with neurotransmitter processes. The following section illustrates how the role of psychointegrators in spiritual and religious contexts, their effectiveness as therapies, and their Cognitive and emotional effects derive from their action upon specific brain systems. These effects derive from both specific mechanisms, as well as from the general aspects of ASC induction and the associated psychophysiological effects and benefits (WINICELMAN 1986a, 1991a, 1992, and section 4 below).

3. Neurotransmitters, Psychointegrators and Organismic Functioning

There are specific neurophysiological, sensory, emotional, behavioral, psychological and cognitive effects of psychointegrators as therapeutic and consciousness transforming agents which derive from their effects upon neurotransmission. This section reviews the neurotransmitter interactions of these substances to provide the basis for the subsequent sections explanation of how the physiological actions produce the associated physical, emotional, cognitive, phenomenological and transpersonal experiences.

There have been many limitations on realizing controlled laboratory and clinical studies on the effects of most psychointegrators upon humans. There are, nonetheless, considerable data which illustrate their effects upon brain functions, consciousness and behavior. The effects of psychointegrators upon brain physiology have been most extensively investigated with substances labeled as hallucinogens, particularly LSD (JACOBS 1984a; MANDELL 1985). There are, however, still many challenges to depicting the specific effects of psychointegrative plants upon consciousness. Mast psychointegrative plants have numerous psychoactive compounds. Some psychointegrators exercise similar effects through different mechanisms, while others have inherently different effects. The global effects of psychointegrators upon consciousness are not distinct from the general effects of ASC (WINKELMAN 1986a, 1991b, 1992). Nonetheless, a range of specific effects have been identified through laboratory studies of the mechanisms of action of LSD and some other psychointegrators. But even laboratory findings present a confusing array of what often appear to be contradictory findings. Assessing the effects of psychointegrators are complicated by the phase and dose-dependent characteristics in the nature, magnitude and duration of effects (FREEDMAN 1984), as well as the powerful influences of set and setting factors. Dosage level, route of administration, stage of the unfolding drug effect, and personal and environmental factors are all important determinants of the psychointegrator induced experiences. These factors must be taken into consideration in reconciling apparently contradictory findings about the effects, and in developing an integrated model of the action of psychointegrator substances.

Psychointegrators and Neurotransmitters

Most of the substances called hallucinogens generalize to one another in terms of their effects and demonstrate cross-tolerance, reflecting underlying similarities in terms of their gross systemic effects, although through different paths of action. A general model of the effects of psychointegrators is provided in the alteration of serotonergic transmission by the LSD-like hallucinogens. These include the indoleamines (e.g., psilocybin and LSD). phenethylamines (e.g. mescaline and methoxyamphetamines) and tetrahydrocannabinols. Common neurochemical and neurophysiological effects include directly or indirectly inhibiting the firing of the brain`s serotonergic systems (MANDELL 1985: 258).

While some psychointegrators have common global effects upon serotonergic neurotransmission, there are also important differences in the mechanisms of action of other psychointegrators (e.g. anticholinergics). There are insufficiently investigated differences even among the LSD-like psychointegrators in terms of their neurotransmitter effects. Even slight molecular changes in LSD-like substances can result in actions through different mechanisms, producing very different effects, or none at all. LSD strongly competes for binding sites of classic dopamine agonists, but some other hallucinogens do not demonstrate dopamine agonist action. While LSD and some hallucinogens (e.g., psilocin, DMT) cause complete suppression of raphe activity, other psychointegrators (e.g. atropine. scopolamine, phencyclidine. and chlorpromazine) have essentially no effect on the activity of the raphe unit (JACOBS & TRULSON 1981: 372). NARANJO`S article here suggests the different hallucinogens involve several major subgroups, contrasting LSD and similar substances, which he characterizes as hallucinogens, from two other groups. These are the "feeling enhancers" (entactogens. sometimes called empathogens) like MDA and MMDA and the "fantasy enhancers" (oneirophrenics) like harmaline. STAFFORD (1992) suggests nine major categories of psychedelic substances with unique compounds. Identifying all of the distinctly different classes of psychointegrator experiences and interspecies biological differences in the effects of psychointegrators requires further systematic aboratory, linical and ethnographic studies to determine the specific neurotransmitter mechanisms, experiential effects and relevant set and setting influences.

MCKIM (1991) proposes that the different types of hallucinogens be classified in terms of the neurotransmitters that they resemble, suggesting three primary groups based upon serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE) and acetylcholine (ACh) neurotransmission. The most well known hallucinogens similar to serotonin are: LSD and other ergot compounds; psilocybin of the mushroom genera Psilocybe, Conobybe, Paneolis and Stropharia; lysergic acid amide found in morning glories; DMT (dimerhyltryptamine) and similar substances found in the genus Virola, several species of Anadenanthera (yopo, cohobo), and some animals (e.g., bufotenine from
toads); and harmine and harmaline of the genus Banisteriopsis (ayahuasca) and related ibogaine derivatives. The most common hallucinogens resembling norepinephrine are: mescaline (peyote. Lophophora williamsii); synthetic mescaline-like drugs (STP. DMA, MDA, MMDA, etc.); and myristicin and elemicin. found in the genus Myristica (e.g., nutmeg). Another group of plants frequently classified as hallucinogens are those of the family Solanaceae, which have their action as anticholinergics, blocking acetylcholine`s muscarinic receptor sites. These plants include: mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), henbane (Hycsyacamus niger) and the Datura genus (e.g., Jamestown weed, thornapple), whose primary effects derived from atropine. hyoscyamine and scopolamine (hyoscine) (MCKIM).

While some hallucinogens do not appear to resemble known neurotransmitters (e.g., dissociative anesthetics), MCKIM`s (1991) proposal of examining drug effects in terms of the neurotransmitter systems provide a useful framework for classifying psychointegrators. But it has its limitations as well. It also includes within a single group plants and substances which have been reported to induce distinct effects. Furthermore, the classifications based upon the action of a single primary active ingredient may overlook the synergistic effects with other compounds in the plant, or different set and setting influences.

Nonetheless, many researchers consider the primary and distinct pharmacological effects of the hallucinogens (indoles and phenethylamines) to involve stimulation of the serotonin pathways (JACOBS 1984). Since early research implicated the central importance of serotonergic mechanisms in LSD effects, subsequent investigations have focused on identifying the serotonergic mechanisms (AGHAJANIAN 1994). The effects of LSD on other neurotransmitters, even the other catecholamines, have not been as extensively documented, reflecting the recognition of preferential action for serotonin neurons. LSD effects upon other neurotransmitters have been investigated (see BLOOM 1981, HAMON 1984, JACOBS 1984b for reviews). LSD appears to affect norepinephrine levels, but at much higher dosages than necessary to affect serotonergic neurons. LSD has both antagonist and agonist effects upon dopamine (DA) neurons, increasing the rate of utilization, synthesis and turnover of dopamine (HAMON 1984); however, there is no clear evidence of mental effects of LSD being mediated by dopamine (FREEDMAN 1984). There is no evidence that the major hallucinogenic effects of LSD are from its action upon NE or DA neurons (JACOBS 198.4b). The widespread recognition of the interaction of LSD-like psychointegrators with the serotonergic system makes it the primary focus here in my effort to elucidate a general model of psychointegrator effects upon consciousness.

Psychointegrators effect neurotransmission at the cellular level, in terms of activation, inhibition, integration, control and functions of the nervous systems. Their systemic effects range from the levels of neuronal transmission to integration of emotional and cognitive processes. The cumulative effects across the neurophysiological, sensory, emotional, behavioral and cognitive levels enhance systemic integration. The effects of LSD-like psychointegrators are primarily based in their interaction with serotonergic neurotransmitters. Serotonin has numerous roles in the nervous system, acting as a modulator across all levels of the brain, from the brain stem and limbic system to the frontal cortex. The loci of their action include the brain stem area, raphe and reticular formations, the hippocampus and amygdala in the limbic system, and the frontal cortex, particularly the visual and auditory areas. LSD-like psychointegrators increase reactivity of these areas, directly and indirectly enhancing integrative processes, and affecting sensitization, habituation, memory, motivation, emotions and experience (FREEDMAN 1984). These and other structures affected by psychointegrators are directly responsible for a range of human capabilities central to consciousness: attention, alertness and maintenance of waking/sleep cycles; control of organismic processes through regulation of the autonomic nervous system: integration of emotional and motivational processes; synthesis of information from the entire brain; and visual conceptualization and representation.

The development of knowledge about the effects of LSD-like psychointegrators upon the serotonergic system has been hampered by the virtual prohibition of human research during the past 25 years. Much of the laboratory evidence of psychointegrator effects upon neurotransmitter functioning is derived from animal studies. There is, however, substantial justification for utilizing these data as a basis for developing generalizations about their effects. The most substantial justification for the use of animal studies lies in the similarity of the effected neurotransmitter systems across the animal phylum. Investigation of serotonin mechanisms across a wide range of animal phytogeny, both in mammalian and non-mammalian vertebrates. has indicated fundamental similarities across all animals in its actions; these derive from the primary concentrations of 5-HT nerve cells in the raphe nuclei in the brain stem and in areas of the mammalian hypothalamus (JACOBS & GELPERIN 1981; PARENT 1981). Reliance upon animal studies does limit findings, but also provides controls not possible with human subjects. Animal studies provide the advantage of identifying the physiological lad of action of neurotransmitters and psychointegrators in ways not legally, morally or practically possible with humans. Animal studies also provide an advantage in reducing the powerful set and setting effects upon the experiences, revealing more strictly biological effects. Yet animal studies do not completely overcome the effects of set and setting influences, which are generally not assessed in animal studies. But some systematic investigations of such factors (e.g., different environments - familiar versus novel, hostile versus safe) show they mediate the effects of hallucinogens upon behavior and learning (see DAVIS ET. AL 1984; APPEL & ROSECRANS 1984). But animal studies can`t identify most emotional and cognitive aspects of these experiences which are so important to humans. Clinical and ethnographic studies serve to identify these subjective and phenomenological aspects of psychointegrator induced experiences and clarify the nature of the neurophysiological effects. Explicating the mechanisms underlying phenomenal experience is one of the ultimate goals of neurophysiological explanation. This article contributes to understanding of these neurophenomenological relationships, first examining the neurophysiological substrate of action of psychointegrators, and secondly relating these to experience.

Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators

The effects of psychointegrators upon human consciousness must be understood in terms of their relationship to the variation within the patterns of normal functioning of neurotransmitter systems. The neurotransmitter effects of psychointegrators are numerous (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991), augmenting or repressing their normal processes. This is achieved by several means, including: serving as agonists in the role of neurotransmitters; reducing habitual repressions caused by other brain mechanisms; and simultaneously stimulating processes which are normally dissociated. Neurohormones and neurotransmitters have a range of mechanisms and effects upon neurotransmitters and their normal cycles of activities. Psychointegrators interact
with these neural substances, stimulating, suppressing or modulating their effects, or substituting in their place in neurotransmission. A systemic characteristization of neurotransmitter function, psychointegrators effects, and consciousness is provided in the following summarization, primarily derived from AGHAJANIAN (1994), KRUK & PYCOCK (1991), MCKIM (1991). RYALL (1989), JACOBS & GELPERIN (1981), and JACOBS (1984a).

Neurotransmitters are chemicals which transmit information in the brain. Neurotransmitters have a wide range of effects upon neurons, triggering changes in nerve cell permeability. creating inhibitory or excitatory effects, and modulating the effects of other neurotransmitters. Some are agonists, substances which initiate responses in receptors, and may substitute for normal neurotransmitters in their receptor sites; others are antagonists (or blockers), substances whose action diminishes the effectiveness of another substance, often preventing an agonist from initiating a response in a receptor. Neuromodulators have the ability to alter the responsiveness of neurons to other neurotransmitters, increasing or decreasing actions, or changing the strength of other neurotransmitters. They may act through a variety of mechanisms (altering release, synthesis, sensitivity or activity) (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991). A number of families of neurotransmitters have been identified, including the monoamines, acetylcholine, amino acids, and the peptides (enkephalines and endorphines) (McKIM 1991). The effects of psychointegrators derive primarily from their interactions with two different neurotransmitter groups: most from action upon the monoamine neurotransmitter serotonin (5-FIT); and some from action upon acetylcholine (ACh). Both ACh and 5-FIT are members of a "superfamily of genetically and structurally related neurotransmitter-gated ion channels" (CHANGEUX 1993: 60F).

Monoamine Neurotransmitters

The monoamine family of neurotransmitters includes the catecholamines (CA): epinephrine (E or adrenaline), norepinephrine (NE or noradrenaline) and dopamine (DA); and a indoleamine, serotonin (5-FIT or 5-hydroxytryptamine). While serotonin differs chemically from the catecholamines, it is influenced by the same enzymes and drugs as the catecholamines. N, NE, DA and 5-HT are deactivated by the enzymes monoamine oxidase (MAO) and catechol-O-methyltransferase. KRUK & PYCOCK (1991: 4) characterize ACh, DA, NA and 5-HT as slow transduction neurotransmitter systems which work by activation of regulatory proteins or through enzymes which generate secondary messengers. The monamine neurotransmitter systems have their nerve cells primarily located in the reticular formation, and are highly innervated in the limbic system and its "pleasure centers," as well as in the basal ganglia, where they play a role in the regulation of body movement. Their long highly branched axons, slow latency and conduction, and diffuse projection to many terminal fields enable them to operate more as modulators rather than as classic synaptic transmitters. These neurotransmitters are referred to as sympathomimetic because this group, particularly epinephrine, stimulate the synapses in the sympathetic nervous system, where they serve as primary neurotransmitters.

Serotonin

Serotonin (5-HT). a key neurotransmitter with a wide range of functions (FISCHBACH 1992. RIBEIRO 1991, WEIGHT & SWENBERG 1981), is the most extensive monoaminergic neurotransmitter system in the brain (ROLE & KELLY 1991). "[I]t does appear that any marked deviation in 5-HT neuronal firing from its usual pattern can lead to profound alterations in perception, cognition, and motor function” (AGHAJANIAN 1981:177-178). 5-HT plays an important role in sensory processing, in hunger and feeding, in the control of motor activity and behavior, in sleep and hallucinatory states, in the control of moods (KRUK & PYCOCK: 122-123), and in thermoregulatian and pain (GLENNON 1990). 5-HT acts as a vasoconstrictor, inhibiting gastric secretions and stimulating the smooth muscles. Serotonin neurons exercise control over secretions of growth hormones, stimulating their release, and participating in central regulation of blood pressure through modulating the sympathetic system. The highest rates of firing of 5-HT neurons are during active waking periods, with their activity undergoing progressively greater reduction during quiet waking and slow wave sleep. 5-HT firing virtually ceases during REM sleep. These different levels of activity correspond to different patterns of raphe discharges, whose level of activity parallels the activity of 5-HT. 5-HT controls the level of arousal and serves as a means of modulating behavior, particularly the role of sensory-motor processes in behavior. The role of 5-HT in vigilance “may influence cognition. learning, perception, memory, decision making, mood and behavior” (GLENNON 1990: 39). Serotonergic neurons and their projections are “associated with anxiety and fear, major depression and dysthymic disorder, appetite abnormalities, sleep disturbances, schizophrenia, pain related dysfunctions such as migraine, and psychosomatic complaints” (RIBEIRO 1991: 37).

The central importance of serotonin as a neurotransmitter in many different behaviors and physiological processes reflects its functions in receiving sensory and internal information, and its primary role as a mediator of processes, modulating the strength of physiological or behavioral responses. Modulatory neurotransmitters are unconventional in the sense that they play a role in modulating the effects of other neurotransmitters or local conditions. 5-HT operates in both fast and slow transduction mechanisms, and “has a wide range of effects upon nerve terminals and blood vessels, even those which do not have 5-HT innervation” (KRUK &
PYCOCK 1991: 116; c.f. RIBEIRO 1991). While serotonin also triggers action potentials, its overall effects are modulatory, determining the strength of the responses of the postsynaptic cells. The modulatory neurotransmitters typically have a much longer period of action, and appear to play a role in responses to changing levels of arousal or motivation of the organism.

Serotonergic Projections

There are a wide range of areas of the CNS which are affected by 5-HT. 5-HT has both ascending and descending projections, but the primary projections are ascending, with a widespread distribution throughout the neuraxis and diffuse influences over vast neuronal populations (PARENT 1981). The 5-HT neurons are concentrated in the CNS along the midline area of the brain stem and in the raphe nuclei in the brain stem, from which they project upward into the limbic system and frontal cortex. They are also found in the mammalian hypothalamus (PARENT 1981), as well as in the myenteric plexus in the gut and in the peripheral tissues (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991). Serotonin (5-HT) neurons are found primarily in the raphe nuclei within the rostral pons of the midbrain, from which they project upward into: the anterior hypothalamus and thalamus; the limbic system, particularly the amygdala, hippocampus and limbic forebrain; and the corpus striatum, basal ganglia and neocortex (KRUK & PYCOCK). The reticular activating and raphe systems are diffusely innervated projection systems which receive sensory input from axons carrying information to the cortex. The limbic system contains a large number of interconnected nuclei primarily responsible for emotion, motivation and their integration with frontal cortex processes. The basal ganglia consist of two nuclei (the caudate nucleus and the putamen) located just below the cortex, which regulate voluntary movements of the body. The cortex receives inputs from many parts of the brain, integrating sensory information, initiating voluntary motor control, coordinating bodily movements, and supporting language and speech.

LSD-like Psychointegrators and Serotonergic Receptors

Explaining the effects of LSD-like psychointegrators is complicated because of the multiple roles of serotonin, as well as the differential effects of LSD upon different types of serotonergic neurons, and their dose and phase dependent effects. “Contradictory findings” or inconsistencies partially result from different effects at different types of neurons, at different dosage levels, and during the different phases of the drug action (initial, early, late, etc.). The role of 5-HT as a modulatory transmitter indicates that the effects of LSD upon neurotransmission will shift over time as the neural conditions to be modulated change. Serotonin has different effects on neurotransmission in these different areas of the brain, enabling psychointegrators to have a number of different effects upon the brain and behavior. LSD has effects upon a number of different aspects of serotonergic action, including presynaptic, axon terminal and postsynaptic sites (AGHAJANIAN 1984, HAMON 1984). LSD-like psychointegrators act both as agonists and antagonists. serving in the place of 5-HT and blocking its actions in different neuron systems and brain areas. LSD induces sustained hyperpolarization of some serotonergic neurons and a cessation of spontaneous firing (AGHAJANIAN 1984). This LSD hyperpolarization is similar to serotonergic action, reflecting LSD action as a serotonin agonist. But LSD action is slower, more prolonged and beyond the maximal levels of serotonin hyperpolarization (AGHAJANIAN 1984). Animal studies suggest that the highest Levels of uptake and binding of LSD in the brain are in 5-HT postsynaptic receptors in: the cerebral cortex, particularly the visual and auditory areas: the limbic system (amygdala and hippocampus); and in the hypothalamus and striatum (HAMON 1984). The brain has at least four different types of 5-HT receptors, whose characteristics are summarized here from AGHAJANIAN (1981, 1993; c.f. SCHMIDT & PEROVTKA 1989, GLENNON 1990, RIBEIRO 1991).

5-HT 1A receptors are present in the raphe system, where they function as somatodendritic autoreceptors, mediating the responses of the serotonergic neurons with respect to their own transmitter (AGHAJANIAN 1994:138). Stimulation of the 5-HT pathways in the raphe depresses neuronal firing of the dorsal hippocampus, hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus, as well as the caudate-putamen, substantia nigra, trigeminal nucleus, spinal-cord interneurons, spinothalamic-tract neurons and the mesencephalic reticular formation (AGHAMNIAN 1981: 165). The serotonergic pathways also depress amygdaloid cell firing resulting from dorsal raphe stimulation. The 5-HT cells concentrated in the rostral raphe nuclei are the primary source of serotonin projections to the forebrain. The majority of the fibers projecting from the midbrain raphe are collected together in the ventral tegmentum, from where they ascend to the lateral hypothalamus, and from there branch to a range of forebrain structures. 5-HT receptors mediate collateral inhibition of the raphe system, and are affected by indoleamine hallucinogens as powerful agonists since the 5-HT 1 receptors have a high affinity for 5-HT agonists. LSD-like indoleamines act as agonists at the “somatodendritic 5-HT 1a somatodendritic receptors” (AGHAJANIAN 1994:140), inhibiting their firing. This enhances the activity of the aforementioned brain structures inhibited by the raphe serotonergic projections. AGHAJANIAN (1981, 1982, 1994:137) suggests that LSD and similar hallucinogens produce their effects through direct action upon 5-HT autoreceptors in the raphe and a selective inhibition of tonic firing of the 5-HT neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus (c.f. HAMON 1984). AGHAJANIAN points out that while LSD acts as an agonist at these 5-HT 1 neurons, directly inhibiting the raphe, this action is not shared with mescaline and other phenethylamine hallucinogens. LSD blocks the activating effects of 5-HT in the reticular formation and in the cortex. The direct inhibition of 5-HT neurons by LSD releases the tonic inhibitory 5-HT influences upon postsynaptic neurons, resulting in increased activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus and amygdala.

The principal effects of LSD-like psychointegrators are from their high affinity for 5-HT 2 neurons (GLENNON 1990: 43). AGHAJANIAN (1994) suggests that a common effect of both indoleamine and phenethylamine hallucinogens is the greater activation of 5-HT receptors relative to other 5-HT receptors. These 5-HT 2 receptors are located in postsynaptic regions, including the cerebral cortex, and locus coeruleus and other brain regions. Serotonin concentrations in the limbic system are highest in the hypothalamus and basal ganglia. These 5-HT 2 receptors have a high affinity for 5-HT antagonist with their sensory processing functions antagonized by LSD (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991). The action of LSD in the hippocampus includes blocking some of the depressant responses initiated by 5-HT and raphe stimulation. LSD inhibition of 5-HT nerve impulse flow creates conditions similar to those seen in paradoxical sleep (dreaming). The suppression of 5-HT cells contributes to production of the typical hallucinatory state through the disinhibition of postsynaptic neurons in the limbic and visual nuclei of the brain, where 5-HT is inhibitory. The primary action of LSD-like psychointegrators is directly at raphe neuron sites rather than forebrain sites (AGHAJANIAN 1984); their consequence is, however, a disinhibition of forebrain neuron targets.

The 5-HT 2 receptors are found on postsynaptic neurons (AGHAJANIAN 1994) and mediate LSD effects on the cerebral cortex, the locus coeruleus, and other areas of the brain. The 5-HT 2 neurons of the locus coemleus (which receives numerous somatosensory and visceral inputs and projects diffusely to most of the brain) are facilitated by LSD, which has a high affinity for 5-HT 2A and 5-HT 2C receptors (MILLER & GOLD 1993). Activation or facilitation of the neurons in the locus coeruleus by LSD-like psychointegrators is apparently through afferent stimulation. The locus ceruleus is a nodal point for convergence of information from all regions of the body (both somatosensory and visceral) and its sensory apparatus. It in turn projects to almost all areas of the neuraxis (AGHAJANIAN 1994), particularly the thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebellum, basal forebrain, hippocampus and neocortex (ROLE & KELLY 1991). These 5-HT 2 sites are implicated in the control of anxiety and reduction of schizophrenic symptomology (RIBEIRO 1991).

5-HT 3 receptors are found in the peripheral nervous system at the ANS nerve endings, where their stimulation leads to the release of ACh and NE from the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve endings, respectively; they may also facilitate the release of DA (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991). 5-HT 3 sites are also found in the lower brain stem and areas of the spinal cord, as well as some areas of the limbic system (RIBEIRO 1991). They have a role in the regulation of analgesia, anxiety and schizophrenic symptoms, but do not appear to be involved in the mediation of LSD effects (GLENNON 1990).

The dominant presynaptic model of LSD action upon serotonergic systems has been expanded by JACOBS` (1984b) consideration of the postsynaptic actions, particularly excitatory influences. LSD-like hallucinogens have moderate serotonin agonist effects (as inhibitors) at the postsynaptic neurons in other brain areas (particularly forebrain subcortical regions), but blocking effects as antagonists at postsynaptic neurons of a variety of other brain areas (JACOBS & TRULSON 1981, JACOBS 1984b: 188). LSD-like hallucinogens block the excitatory effects of serotonin upon postsynaptic neurons in areas of the brain stem and cerebral cortex, and also potentiate the facilitatory or excitatory effects of serotonin upon the brain stem and spinal cord (JACOBS 1984b). Excitatory effects from LSD at the postsynaptic neurons in the cerebral cortex and brain stem are a result of LSD potentiation of 5-HT excitatory effects on brain stem and spinal cord areas receiving seratonergic input (JACOBS 1984b: 188), producing excitation in the motor systems of the spinal cord and brain stem, and facilitating spinal reflexes.

While LSD action at the presynaptic sites (serotonergic neuron somatodendrite) may contribute to hallucinogenesis, JACOBS (19841,) suggests that its role does not appear to be crucial. He reviews studies which implicate postsynaptic serotonergic action in mediation of the effects of LSD-induced hallucinogenesis. The focus upon hallucinations (which the title of JACOBS` book Hallucinogens illustrates) may slight the importance of other non-hallucinatory aspects of psychointegrators effects, such as the effects upon systemic information integration and distribution. These actions of psychointegrators upon serotonergic mechanisms and their effects upon the brain are summarized in the accompanying Table 1.

Acetylcholine

Acetylcholine (ACh) serves as a neurotransmitter in a wide range of sites, including: all autonomic nervous system (parasympathetic and sympathetic) preganglionic nerve terminals: all parasympathetic postganglionic nerve terminals; sympathetic nervous system postganglionic nerve terminals at the sweat glands; the adrenal medulla and the CNS; and in the somatic nervous systems neuromuscular junctions of the voluntary nerve terminals and in the skeletal muscles (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991: 28). Cholinergic mechanisms are involved in a wide range of CNS functions, including: arousal and wakefulness: nausea and vomiting; resting tremor and rigidity (excessive cholinergic action): and memory processes (inhibition of short term memory loss). ACh pathways ascend from the reticular system into the thalamus; provide various connections within the limbic system, linking the hippocampus and septum; and innervate the cerebral cortex (derived from KRUK & PYCOCK 1991: 39, figure 2.5). Within the limbic area, ACh tracts connect to the amygdala, olfactory bulb and hippocampus. and extend rostrally and then dorsally to innervate the cerebral cortex. ACh is a primary neurotransmitter in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which is responsible for transmitting information to the CNS from the peripheral sense organs and terminals, and for relaying CNS instructions to the effector neurons. The PNS achieves this through two functional units, the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The somatic system caries information from the senses into the CNS and exercises control of the voluntary muscles via the cell bodies in the spinal cord and their connections with the axons which project to the voluntary muscles. Most of these neuromuscular junctions are activated by ACh, acting at nicotinic cholinergic receptors. The two divisions of the ANS (sympathetic or ergotrophic. and parasympathetic or trophotropic nervous systems) interactively control internal organs and their muscles and glands, systems normally outside of voluntary control. This regulation of internal body organs and their functions is primarily under the control of the parasympathetic division of the ANS. These parasympathetic receptor sites are cholinergic, with ACh functioning as the neurotransmitter at the synapses of the ganglia and in the target organs and stimulating the organism to sleep and recuperation.

The sympathetic division of the ANS also innervates the internal organs, coming into strongest operation when stress or danger evoke its operation to expend energy to protect the organism in the fight-or-flight response. The sympathetic ganglionic synapses are cholinergic with the control over the target organs exercised by adrenergic neurons, where E and NE operate as the neurotransmitters. They stimulate the peripheral sympathetic division of the ANS. enabling the organism to exert ef fort NE and ACh are physiological antagonists, affecting the receptors in the peripheral autonomic nervous system in opposite ways, and resulting in the organism expending effort, or seeking sleep and recuperation, respectively.

The highest concentrations of ACh are found in the caudate nucleus and cerebral cortex. The effects of ACh are usually excitatory, although there are some inhibiting effects in the thalamus and brain stem (RYALL 1989). The two main types of cholinergic receptors, muscarinic and nicotinic receptors, are identified by the natural plant substances which mimic the effects upon the cholinergic receptors (muscarine of Amanita muscaria and nicotine). Muscarinic receptors effect parasympathetic nerve stimulation, with their most active stimulation occurring during rest and sleep. The muscarinic receptors mediate a reduction of heart rate and contractions, and can lead to cardiac arrhythmias, blocks or arrest and possible death. Muscarine receptor stimulation relaxes blood vessels; increases release of salivary and mucus gland secretions, intestinal enzymes and sweat glands; and increases gastro-intestinal and bladder contractions. The ANS ganglia cholinergic receptors are primarily nicotinic receptors. Nicotine firs: excites, and then later blocks the ANS cholinergic ganglionic receptors. Nicotinic ACh receptors are involved in the movement of ions in and out of cells and stimulate the voluntary nerves in the skeletal muscle and the neuromuscular junctions. The effects of ACh stimulation of the ANS nicotinic receptors depends on whether they are in the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous system, where they initiate the respective responses. Excitation of the nicotine receptors by ACh released from preganglionic nerve endings results in the release of £ and NE. Release of ACh by the skeletal muscles voluntary nerves stimulates the postsynaptic nicotine receptors, thereby initiating contractions of muscles.

Anticholinergic Psychointegrators

The uses of cholinergic psychointegrators (e.g., Datura), as discussed in the articles here by JACOBS and by SCHULTES & WINKELMAN, are in sharp contrast with the uses of other psychointegrative plants. Differences in effects of anticholinergic compounds in comparison to the indoleamines reflect actions upon different neurotransmitter systems. The effects of the anticholinergic psychointegrators are derived from interference in ACh neurotransmission by substances similar to muscarine and nicotine: Atropine, hyoscine (scopolamine) and hyoscyamine are the principal active substances in the psychointegrative plants which block ACh effects at the muscarinic receptors (MCKIM 1991). Muscarine blockers result in the loss of the ability of near focus; an increase in heart rate; reduction of salivary. gastrointestinal and sweat gland secretions; and anti-emetic effects (KRUK & PYCOCK 1991). Nicotine has an initial agonist (excitatory) action in the neuromuscular junctions, in the autonomic ganglia, and in the adrenal medulla, followed by a depolarizing blocking effect upon the nicotinic receptors (KRUK & PYCOCK).

Anticholinergic substances produce delirium or clouded consciousness, conditions which are not typically associated with the indoleamine compounds. The hallucinations produced by the anticholinergics are caused by blocking of neurotransmission at central cholinergic synapses, stopping the functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system, and blocking its receptor sites in the neuromuscular junctions. Substances which block cholinergic transmission interfere with the operation of the parasympathetic nervous system, and may result in toxicity or death because of action on basic life-support functions. This is the basic source of their danger, and one reason why the anticholinergic psychointegrators do not enjoy the same popularity of use as the indaleamines which interact with the serotonergic mechanisms.

4. Macrolevel Effects of LSD-like Psychointegrators

The different effects of psychointegrators at different phases of their action are widely recognized. These phase dependent characteristics are described in terms of the patterns of clinical effects of LSD (HOLLISTER 1984):

“Time Course Clinical Effect

0-30 Dizziness, nausea, weakness, twitches, anxiety

30-60 mm Blurred vision, increased contrasts, visual patterns with eyes closed; less discriminatory hearing; yawning: decreased concentration; feelings of unreality; incoordination; tremulous speech

60-120 mm Increased visual effects, wavelike motions; impaired distance perception; euphoria; slow passage of time

120-240 mm Waning of above effects

4-12 hr Returning to normal but continued arousal

Late effects Headache, fatigue, contemplative state” (HOLLISTER 1984: 22).

From a clinical perspective, LSD-Iike psychointegrators can induce somatic, sensory-perceptual and psychic effects, such as: “dizziness, weakness, tremor, nausea, and hyperreflexia… altered sensations of sounds, shapes, colors, and so forth, ultimately developing into complex, often multimodal, hallucinations … rapid, and often profound, alterations of affect (depression, elation, blunting, etc.), depersonalization, and dreamlike feelings” (JACOBS & TRULSON 1981: 366). While representing some of the simple commonalities typically found in clinical observations of LSD subjects, this clinical profile fails to capture many of the phenomenologically relevant experiences induced by psychointegrators. This section presents the regular external effects associated with LSD-like psychointegrators, tying these macrolevel effects to actions of the neurotransmitter systems upon specific regions of the brain.

Sensory Effects

Visual phenomena (“hallucinations”) are a consequence of several mechanisms:
the disinhibition of visual areas of the cortex; the inability to suppress visual structures of the brain which are normally inhibited; and the inability to suppress imagery of emotionally salient memories stimulated by activation of the limbic system. The characterization of psychointegrator`s effects as hallucinations is only partially correct, since many of the visual experiences reflect structural (neurognostic) principles of operation of the CNS. KLUVER (1966) demonstrated the initial stage of imagery under mescaline involves certain geometric form constants (lattice, cobweb, tunnel and spiral) which are manifested under a wide variety of other conditions as well – fever deliriums, toxic overdose, insulin hypoglycemia, hypnogogic states and other ASC. Sensory effects include enhancement of optical and auditory processes and a simultaneous inhibition of the responsiveness of cortical systems. The consequence is a state of “enhanced input with diminished and more variable control” (FREEDMAN 1984: 206), reflecting the action of LSD-like substances in enhancing activity of the locus coeruleus and in releasing serotonin suppression of the visual cortex. Effects on the reactivity of the reticular systems to environmental input apparently removes the customary or habitual interpretive frameworks used in ordinary cultural and personal interpretation of the world. Both humans and animals manifest a failure to suppress prior percepts, frequently responding to separate stimuli as if they were overlapping (APPEL & ROSECRANS 1984, DAVIS ET AL. 1984). More recently a posthallucinogen perceptual disorder has been identified involving chronic visual disturbances and accompanying problems of anxiety, depression, and phobias (SMITH & SEYMOUR 1994). The breakdown in constancies of perceptual experience are also reflected at the behavioral level in habituation, and at the psychological level in the breakdown of defenses.

Behavioral Effects

Behavioral influences of psychointegrators are first and foremost a function of dosage and phase of action. Low dosages tend to have excitatory effects upon locomotor activity and spinal and startle reflexes, but inhibitory effects tend to occur at high dosages (DAVIS ET AL. 1984). In animals, lower dosages produce more exploratory behavior and more random routes. The behavioral effects at high doses include a tendency toward cessation of external behavior and physical collapse, followed with an internal focus of attention and a preoccupation with internal imagery. A primary behavioral effect in both humans and animals is dishabituation, that is, familiar experiences and situations are responded to as if they appear
novel. Hallucinogens alter behavioral habituation, reinstating formerly habituated arousal responses, increasing arousal habituation, and disrupting behavior established under free response reinforcement (APPLE & ROSECRANS 1984). LSD and similar hallucinogens affect behavioral responses under fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement, resulting in a slowing or blocking of responses (McKIM 1991). The hallucinogens are characterized by the rapid development of tolerance to their effects and do not display withdrawal or addiction (McKIM). Repeated ingestion of LSD results in the disappearance of the effects within a few days, and the body remains unresponsive to even higher dosages. The tolerance subsides within about four days to a week after last use.

The behavioral effects of the hallucinogens are a consequence of action upon several brain areas. The sensitization of motor areas undoubtedly contributes to the more extensive exploratory behavior at low doses. The present author speculates that the behavioral disinhibition, interrupted habituation, and other altered behavioral responses may reflect the blocking effects of LSD-like substances upon 5-HT receptors. LSD-like psychointegrators may induce novel behavior and more random activities by blocking the habitually used nerve tracts, forcing the use of alternate neural routes, and consequently leading to alternate forms of behavior. The termination of behavior at high levels reflects the global state of parasympathetic dominance and skeletal collapse associated with the induction of ASC (see below).

Emotional Effects

The basic clinical characteristics associated with hallucinogens are emotional effects, mood alterations, emotional lability, dream-like feelings, absorption with internal feelings, depersonalization, strange body sensations, emotional swings, and the co-existence of feelings of fear and exhilaration (FREEDMAN 1984, HOLLISTER 1984). There are also reports of adverse psychological reactions and panic attacks reported as effects of LSD (HOLLISTER), generally reflecting individual histories of psychiatric problems or adverse setting influences. The emphasis on internal memory and sensations rather than external stimuli facilitates the emergence of unconscious conflicts and emotional issues, reflecting actions upon limbic structures which provide access to and awareness of emotions and memories. The emotional effects of LSD-like psychointegrators are achieved through action upon several areas of the limbic system. The stimulation of the hippocampus and amygdala are apparently responsible for the activation of critical emotional aspects of the individuals` personal life. Typically those emotional memories are of central psychological importance and often related to conflicts, repressed experiences and problems. These broad clinical effects reflect stimulation of the basic and unique functions of the limbic system – emotions and a sense of self related to self-preservation and social attachment (MACLEAN 1990). These emotional aspects are also illustrated in clinical findings (see below).

Cognitive Effects

Psychointegrators have cognitive effects derived from neurophysiological actions on processing of both stimulus and response information. The characteristic cognitive
effects include a sense of enhanced significance and meaning, as well as insight and understanding. These are products of the activation of the limbic system, which provides the foundation for our sense of certainty and conviction about our perceptions (MACLEAN 1990). One of the cognitive characteristics of the hallucinogens is the alteration of mental functioning with an enhanced clarity of consciousness, combined with a shift of focus to internal experience
(FREEDMAN 1984: 209). The alteration of experience produced by hallucinogens differs from that of many other drug substances in that memories remain intact, both for pre-episode experiences. as well as following the experience, permitting subsequent reflection and analysis.

The physiological basis for the characteristic cognitive integration is discussed in MANDELL`S (1985) article on “Interhemispheric Fusion.” He suggests hallucinogens alter hemispheric dominance by increasing the amount of coupling (bilateral coherence) that exists in hemispheric oscillations. This improves the integration of information exchange between the two hemispheres. Hallucinogens effect the time oscillations of catalysts in serotonin biosynthesis. This reduces variations in the oscillation frequencies, making them more coherent, and tending to make them faster: “LSD seems to move fluctuations closer to randomness. The fine graining of the probabilistic process may be seen as allowing more intimate intermixing (a oneness) of all component parts” (MANDELL 1985: 259). This creates a more thorough integration of the left and right hemispheres and their specialized roles in cognition and affect (thought and emotion), respectively. By inducing increases in coherence and the oscillatory rate, hallucinogens improve the integration of feelings and thoughts. bringing about a greater degree of balance and integration of right hemisphere intuition and left hemisphere rationality. This integration provides a basis for the often reported insight experiences associated with psychointegrators. The classic descriptions of hallucinogen induced experiences as involving wholeness, oneness and integration reflect effects of the hallucinogens in inducing discharges in the limbic system, which imposes its slow wave discharge patterns in a synchronization of the frontal cortex. These effects are further examined next in terms of the general patterns of ASC.

Psychointegrative Aspects of ASC

While various psychointegrators have different chemical structures and modes of action upon the brain and neurotransmitters systems, they nonetheless have some common effects upon consciousness. The commonalities of the LSD-like psychointegrators and phenethylamines in the inhibition of the serotonergic systems and the resulting loss of inhibitory effects upon the mesolimbic temporal lobe structures induces a profound alteration of consciousness, a transcendental or transpersonal experience. This disinhibition of the mesolimbic temporal lobe
structures results in synchronous brain wave patterns produced by hippocampal-septal slow wave discharges. This is manifested in high voltage synchronous activity in the hippocampus and synchronous discharges in the temporal lobe limbic structures (MANDELL 1980, FINK 1978, AGHAJANIAN 1982). These coherent systematic discharges drive their impulses upward into the brain, causing synchronization of the cortex (FAIRCHILD, ALLES, JENSEN & MICKEY 1967) and inducing a parasympathetic dominant state (GELLHORN 1969). MANDELL (1980) suggests that “transcendent states” are based in a common underlying neurobiochemical pathway involving a biogenic amine-temporal lobe interaction. This is manifested in high voltage slow wave EEG activity which originates in the hippocampal-Septal area of the limbic system and imposes synchronous slow wave patterns (3-6 cps) on the frontal lobes. ASC generally ultimately involve psychophysiological features of a parasympathetic dominant state, limbic system activation,right hemisphere enhancement, and conical synchronization (WINKELMAN 1986a, 1992; MANDELL 1980, 1985). This limbic system discharge pattern results in interhemispheric synchronization and coherence, limbic-cortex integration, and a synthesis. integration and coherence of thought and emotion (MANDELL 1980. 1985).

These effects are not unique to the hallucinogens, but reflect systematic changes in the focus and nature of brain functioning common to many means of inducing ASC (WINKELMAN 1986a, 1991a, 1992: c.f. GROF, NARANJO this volume). This transpersonal mode of consciousness represents an optimized homeostatic balance among different functional systems of the brain which permits the emergence of integrative operations (holotropic processes) (GRoF 1975, 1980. 1989, 1992; WINKELMAN n.d.). This common biological basis of ASC underlies their universal presence in shamanistic healing practices. ASC induction achieved through a variety of different procedures creates common systemic changes in the functioning of the central nervous system and the predominant focus and origin of brain wave activity (WINKELMAN 1986a, 1992; MANDELL 1980). The common set of psychophysiological changes underlying diverse ASC involves replacement of the normal waking EEG of desynchronized fast wave activity of the frontal cortex with a parasympathetic dominant state characterized by cortical synchronization from high voltage slow wave discharges originating in the limbic system. ASC are generally characterized by the replacement of the normal waking physiological patterns – external orientation of attention supported by the activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system – with an internally oriented parasympathetic dominant state and conical synchronization. Along with the psychointegrators, a wide variety of other ASC induction agents, procedures and psychophysiological conditions produce this pattern of limbic driven cortical synchronization. These include: auditory stimulation such as singing. chanting and clapping; extensive running or other motor behavior; hunger, thirst, and sleep loss: intense sensory stimulation such as physical austerities or temperature extremes; sensory deprivation: sleep states and meditation; and a variety of psychophysiological imbalances or sensitivities resulting from hereditarily transmitted nervous system liabilities, or from epileptic-like states resulting from injury, disease, or other trauma to the central nervous system (summarized from WINICELMAN 1986a, 1992).

Physiological Basis of ASC Therapeutic Efficacy

The therapeutic effects of psychointegrators must be understood in the context of the broader therapeutic effects of ASC. Their therapeuticroles derive in part from the common physiological changes underlying ASC which are inherently therapeutic. Parasympathetic dominant conditions of ASC involve the general relaxation response (WALLACE & BENSON 1972), which has inherent therapeutic benefits against a range of stress induced and exacerbated maladies (WINKELMAN 1992, chapter 10). Parasympathetic dominant states can cause loss of memory, erasure of previously conditioned responses, changes in beliefs, and increased suggestibility (SARGANT 1974), which predispose the individual to change. Numerous therapeutic effects have been found for ASCs (see WINKELMAN 199 la, 1992, 1994; SHAPIRO 1980; and WALSH 1990 for reviews). ASC “improve psychological and physiological well-being through: inducing physiological relaxation; facilitating self-regulation of physiological processes; reducing tension, anxiety and phobic reactions: inducing and eliminating psychosomatic effects; facilitating extrasensory perception and psychokinesis; bypassing normal cognitive processes in accessing unconscious information; promoting interhemispheric fusion and synchronized coherence; and enhancing cognitive-emotional integration and social bonding and affiliation” (sic WINKELMAN 1991 a: 2-3; c.f. WINKELMAN 1986a, 1991b, 1992). The beneficial effects of ASC are found in meditation, which has been shown to improve individual psychological and physiological wellbeing and success in dealing with stress, fears, phobias and a wide variety of physiological problems. ASC affect the brain/mind interface, permitting conscious manipulation and contemplation of typically unconscious processes and information. They evoke a conscious-unconscious integration by activating unconscious material, permitting the resolution of repressed conflicts through catharsis and reintegration. ASC provoke expression of repressed aspects of the self through reduction of critical screening by the left hemisphere, releasing control to the right hemisphere (BUDZYNSKI 1986) and the limbic system. These changes permit expression of normally repressed aspects of brain functioning, as well as reprogramming at these unconscious levels.

Clinical Studies of Psychedelics

A wide range of studies arid reviews illustrate that psychointegrators (particularly LSD) have specific therapeutic effectiveness (see articles here by GASSER, GROB & BRAVO, GROF. LEUNER, SANCHEZ-RAMOS, NEBELKOPF, PASSIE, and YENSEN; c.f., GROF 1975, 1980; LUKOFF, ZANGER & LU 1990; BLISS 1988; YENSEN 1985; BRAVO & GROB 1989). Prior to legal prohibitions several decades of clinical research revealed important information on the nature of distresses most effectively treated with LSD assisted therapy. While the initial use of LSD within Western medicine was guided by assumption that it produced psychosis, research proved this assumption incorrect. The clinical data did indicate that LSD could produce psychotic-like reactions and disturbed cognitive functioning, but most experiences were quite distinct from psychotic states. This was exemplified in what COHEN (1971) described as a typical “good trip,” a positive LSD experience which changed the way in which the user perceived and understood ordinary experience. COHEN suggested a common effect of LSD was to lead the person to view the world in a new light, “desymbolized,” leading to dramatic changes in meaning and a new significance attributed to objects of everyday life. There were also different reactions to accustomed perceptual, emotional and cognitive stimuli. Other typical characteristics included hypersensitivity, hypersuggestability, and an increased sensitivity to minute details and a wider range of sensory cues. Thought processes became more flexible, with the acceptance of contradictions and the reconciliation of oppositions. The sense of self may undergo dramatic changes, including powerful experiences of mystical union, the “oceanic feeling,” involving the dissolution of self into a unity with the universe.

These effects led to a more positive view of the potentials of LSD induced experiences, represented in the psycholytic approach (see articles here by GASSER, PASSIE, and YENSEN), which integrated a series of low doses of LSD in conjunction with a longer series of regular therapeutic sessions. The term “psycholytic” reflected a view of LSD as a “mind dissolving” agent, altering the relationship between the conscious and unconscious to facilitate psychoanalytic psychology. LSD aided psychotherapy through weakening psychological defenses, heightening emotional responsiveness, releasing unconscious material, easing memory blocks and promoting catharsis, thereby shortening the course of therapy. It was particularly effective with chronically withdrawn patients unable to express their repressed conflicts. Contemporary psycholytic therapists in Switzerland recommend LSD-assisted therapy for: those with psychosomatic problems and psychic rigidity: concentration camp survivors with rigid defenses; patients with whom classic psychoanalysis has been unsuccessful; disorders rarely healed by psychotherapy such as severe chronic compulsions and severe alcoholism; and severe character neuroses, depression, and compulsion (ZANGER 1989).

A new clinical paradigm, the psychedelic view of the therapeutic effects of LSD, derived from studies indicating that those who benefitted most from the therapies were those who had reported mystical experiences from large doses of LSD. In psychedelic therapy, a single large dose of LSD was used to facilitate peak and mystical experiences. Profound personality changes were often associated with these LSD induced mystical experiences, indicating the induced experiences and insights were responsible for therapeutic success (KURLAND 1985). The insights and therapeutic effects associated with the LSD induced “peak experiences” involve a profound sense of interconnectedness, unity and meaningfulness. LSD in psychotherapy also assists in the resolution of psychosocial conflicts by giving the individual insights and the opportunity to use them for understanding, life changes and enhanced self-control. LSD and other psychedelic agents were used to activate repressed memories, evoke catharsis and abreaction, and enhance self-awareness, leading to a sense of freedom (KURLAND 1985). The psychedelic paradigm placed the psychiatrist in the role of a “modern day shaman” (BRAVO & GROB 1989).

This role brought the use of LSD and other psychointegrator plant substances to the focus of a major societal conflict, as discussed in the papers here by GROB & BRAVO and by NEBELKOPF. Psychiatrists` use at psychoactive substances which evoked religious experiences confounded the separation of religious ideas and science, provoking strong professional and societal reactions. Exacerbating the conflict over the use of hallucinogens was the lack of consensus in the scientific community as to the true effects of these substances. This was reflected in the three different medical/clinical paradigms (psychotomimetic, psycholytic and psychedelic) which developed in the investigation of these substances (YENSEN 1985. this volume). A reconciliation of the differences in these three approaches and their findings was found in the recognition of the “set and setting” influences, the extrapharmacological factors derived from expectations and situational circumstances which determine how the individual reacts to the biologically induced experiences. Set refers to the individual`s beliefs, attitudes, characteristics, and expectations about the experience, while setting refers to the factors in the immediate situation (physical location, situational factors during use, and their consequences for immediate experience) within which the experiences unfolds. The set and setting factors are ultimately the primary determinants of the nature of the psychointegracor induced experiences, playing a role in creating and shaping the content, emotional quality, purpose and other aspects of the experiences. The emotional activation and sensitivity caused by the pharmacological agents are utilized in culturally and individually specific ways.

Summary: General Effects of Serotonin-Like Psychointegrators

The LSD-like psychointegrators heighten sensory receptivity, increasing arousal and responsivity to the environment. They also reduce or reverse habituation of typical response patterns, forcing the organism into new patterns of behavior and new perspectives. While low dosages lead to a more thorough, random and complete examination of the environment, high dosages tend to lead to withdrawal and a focus upon the internal imagetic, emotional, and cognitive environment. The internal focus, alteration of the consciousness, and limbic activation forces material from the sub- or unconscious into awareness, bringing repressed memories into consciousness where through catharsis and abreaction they are integrated and resolved. Their tendency to elicit distressing personal material, unresolved conflicts, repressed experiences, and unintegrated aspects of self and behavior suggests that the stimulation of limbic systems provokes the release of memories, perhaps those not yet integrated into long term stable memories. Psychointegrators stimulate the primary activities of the limbic system – emotions and interpretations related to the sense of self and social attachments.

Since the overall effect of serotonin is to depress the action of target neurons in the fore-brain, the overall blocking effect of LSD upon serotonin neurons is a disinhibition of their typical repression. The areas with the densest serotonin axon terminals, the limbic system`s emotional processing areas and the visual areas of the cortex, have the most intense disinhibition and therefore greatest activity. This resultant increased activity of visual and emotional centers underlies the typical visual and emotional experiences. A consequence of the blockage of serotonin uptake and action of the brain`s serotonergic systems is the disinhibition of the mesolimbic temporal lobe structures (MANDELL 1985; HOFFMEISTER & STILLE 1982). This disinhibition permits the emergence of synchronous slow wave discharges which drive impulses into the frontal cortex, replacing the normal desynchronized fast wave activity activity characteristic of the frontal cortex with the limbic system`s slower more coherent wave patterns. These psychointegrator effects create an increase in coherence of brain discharges, improving the integration of feelings and thoughts, and enhancing integration, balance, and insight. Psychointegrators stimulate the brain to focus attention upon processing information in this integrated fashion, driven by the priorities of the limbic brain.

There are inherent physiologically derived therapeutic properties of psychointegrator substances when not subjected to negative set and setting influences. Through provoking integrative exchange of information, they change experience and awareness, disrupting habitual experiences of the world and dissolving ego-centric fixations in altering the relationship between conscious awareness and unconscious processes~ They facilitate therapeutic intervention through creating an extraordinary state of emotional lability and suggestibility, evoking various memories and experiences about self and behavior, and making them available for reprogramming. The physiological effects of limbic-frontal and interhemispheric brain synchronization bring about art integration of unconscious material, as well as thoughts and emotions.

The relationship of the effects of the psychointegrators to uniquely human psychodynamic circumstances is illustrated by laboratory studies which indicate that other animals do not self-administer most hallucinogens (MCKIM 1991). The typical human pattern of use in infrequent ceremonials reflects the adaptation to the tolerance effects, as well as the episodic nature of the psychodynamic need for their use. Psychointegrators can be seen as managing developmentally or crises induced needs for integration of conscious, pit-conscious and unconscious processes in the creation of a new gestalt understanding. The stimulation of the primary activities of the limbic system – emotions and interpretations related to self preservation, the sense of self, and social attachments – reflects the activation of evolutionarily earlier levels of perception and cognition. The activation of these evolutionarily prior aspects of mentation through the integrative potentials provided by the psychointegrative plants nonetheless represents evolutionary developments in human consciousness in reintegrating control of these lower brain functions.

5. The Role of Psychointegrative Plants in Functional Brain Systems and Consciousness

The role of psychointegrators in systemically enhancing brain functioning involves differential effects upon the evolutionary layers of the brain proposed by MACLEAN (1990, 1993). MACLEAN contrasts the: 1) reptilian brain (R-complex) which regulates organic functions and the basic behavioral routines; 2) the paleomammalian brain, focused on the limbic system and associated structures, and concerned with self identity, species survival, family and social relations, learning, memory, emotions, sex and aggression and their integration in human behavior; and 3) the neomammalian brain (neocortical structures), the encephalization that provided the most dramatic change in the brains of horninids and humans, and the basis for language and other higher cognitive functions. The three formations of the brain have different anatomical structures and provide the basis for different mental, experiential and behavioral functions. Psychointegrators and other ASC primarily activate the paleomammalian brain and its functions, evoking and processing important emotions and memories, and enhancing systemic integration of the psyche. Psychointegrators also stimulate the R-complex, maintaining alertness and awareness, interfering with routinized (habituated) behavioral routines and providing an enhanced integration and projection of diverse kinds of information.

The three brain formations – the reptilian. paleomammalian and neomammalian brain – have distinctive mentalities, or information processing modalities, which MACLEAN labels protomentation, emotomentation and ratiomentation (MACLEAN 1993: 39). The reptilian brain manages the cognition necessary for the basic behavioral plots and actions of the body. The paleomammalian brain and limbic system provide the mentation underlying the emotional and social influences on behavior. These cognitive processes are not based upon language, but upon forms of mental and social representation tied to primary processing and nonverbal communication. These earlier structures lack linguistic representation, but have awarenesses, intelligence and consciousness, and play a predominant role in managing the interpretations of emotional and social life.

Paleomentation: Protomentation and Emotomentation

The R-complex and paleornammalian brains are responsible for the basic aspects of mentatian and behavior which are typically referred to as non-verbal, which MACLEAN (1990) labels as paleomentation and prosematic (rudimentary signs) forms of communication. MACLEAN distinguishes paleomentation from ratiocination or rational mentation since emotion and thought may occur independently, and are products of different brain mechanisms. Paleomentation refers to two main types of mentation, protomentations and emotiomentations (emotional mentation) (MACLEAN 1993: 35). Protomentation refers to rudimentary cerebration responsible for regulating the activities of the daily master routines and subroutines and the expression of the major behavioral displays of prosematic communication used in social communication (MACLEAN 1990: 12). Protomentation provides the basis for propensions – drives, impulses, compulsions and obsessions (MACLEAN 1993: 35). Emotiomentation refers to those brain processes underlying what we recognize as emotions and affects. Emotional mentation constitutes “a form of cerebration that appears to influence behavior on the basis of information subjectively manifested as emotional feelings” (MACLEAN 1990: 12).

The R-Complex. MACLEAN (1990) suggests that the R-complex or reptilian brain plays a fundamental role in species-typical prosematic behavior, regulating master routines and subroutines and integrating various, cortical and subthalamic mechanisms to coordinate the movements and total reactions of the organism. The R-complex is characterized by large amounts of dopamine. The antagonism of dopanxine by LSD and other psychointegrators suggests that one of their effects is to shut down the habitual routines related to social behavioral displays. The psychointegrators apparently have the effect of forcing the frontal cortex to consciously process information which has been relegated or automatized by the R-cornplex and paleomammalian brain. The primary activity of LSD upon serotonergic activity is thought to be mediated by 5-HT 2 neurons of the limbic system and projections to the frontal cortex. The effects of LSD-like substances upon the brain stem region is not normally thought to mediate hallucinatory effects: Nonetheless, these regions are involved in LSD-induced integration of diverse stimuli and their diffuse projection throughout the brain, directly contributing to many of the experiential and psychocognitive effects.

The Paleomammalian Brain

All mammals have a phylogenetically ancient cortex which surrounds the brain stem, forming a border which nearly encloses the brain stem. This limbic cortex and connected areas of the brain comprise the limbic system, or paleornammalian brain. It is the major conduit for the funneling of neural information throughout the brain, serving as a core information processing area and constituting the point of sensory information convergence in route to the frontal cortex. The limbic system contains a number of components (the hippocampus. aniygdala and an interconnected complex of nerve systems with related structures – septum, mammillary bodies, anterior thalamic nuclei, cingulate cortex) which are strongly innervated by the serotonergic systems. It integrates emotion and memory and serves as a processing area between sensory input and motor output, connecting the primitive brain (R-complex) and the frontal cortex.

The limbic system processes information derived from events and the associated memories and emotions (WINSON 1985: 31). The hippocampus and amygdala have a fundamental role in the dream process responsible for the creation of memories (but not their retrieval) (WINSON 1985). The hippocampus is central to the processes through which experiences become stabilized as memories over a three year period. The limbic system is not associated with the capacity for mental functioning, reason and understanding, mathematics, abstract functioning, the ability to learn a rote task, nor for manifestations of personality, as these human capabilities remain intact with the removal of these structures (WINSON 1985). The hippocampus is the component of the limbic system which serves as the functional basis through which memory has effects upon perceptions, interpretations, thoughts, feelings and behavior (WINSON 1985: 29). The hippocampus influences the hypothalamus and other brain structures responsible for integrating information about emotional feelings into behaviors underlying self-preservation and species-preservation. MACLEAN suggests that the processes of these areas of the brain are not unconscious, but rather outside of the grasp of the intellect.

The limbic system and its evolutionary developments provided the functions which are the principal behavioral evolutions in the development of mammals – nursing/maternal care, audio-vocal communication and play – which set the basis for the family. The primary functions of the limbic system are to derive information from emotional feelings and use it to guide self and species preservation behavior. The role of empathic caring in bringing about dramatic evolutionary adaptations is illustrated in the co-evolution of family/social relations and the palco-mammalian brain. The feelings of attachment, emotional security, and identity with family provided the emotive basis for extension of such relations to non-kin, strangers and the spiritual realm. Psychointegrators stimulate the structures responsible for these mental processes, behaviors and feelings.

Although the subjective and affective experiences are dominated by the paleomammallian brain, it also plays a vital role in higher cognitive functions. The paleomammalian brain is necessary for the manifestations of the basic social personality; limbic functions are “essential for a sense of personal identity and reality that have far-reaching implications for ontology and epistemology” (MACLEAN 1990: 248). Clinical studies of limbic system abnormalities indicate that it`s activation and discharge may result in a range of feelings and experiences, including: “feelings of depersonalization, distortions of perception, paranoid delusions and hallucinations [and] an intense free-floating feeling of what is real, true, and important, an experience eureka-type feelings … oceanic feelings such as occur in mystical revelation or under the influence of psychedelic drugs” (MACLEAN 1993: 33). “[I]t seems that the ancient limbic system has the capacity to generate strong affective feelings of conviction that we attach to our beliefs, regardless of whether they are true of false!” (MACLEAN 1993: 33). The limbic system generates the feelings of conviction and sense of authenticity which humans use to substantiate mental ideas, concepts, beliefs and theories. It is the limbic system which plays a crucial role in providing the sense of unity to experience and the convictions which give humans the experience of continuity and certainty.

The Neocortex and Old Forms of Consciousness

The achievements made possible by the neocortex, which so dramatically distanced humans from the rest of nature, have distracted attention from the commonalities the human brain and its functions still share with the rest of nature. This has led to an undervaluation of these common aspects of brain and consciousness which structure human interaction today, but in ways which typically operate outside of awareness of the left hemisphere based linguistic ways of perceiving and evaluating reality. The predominance of the left-hemisphere egoic focus of awareness leads the individual to conclude that the representations which these processes and foci of identity provide are a complete and accurate depiction of the totality of the individual. The domination of left-brain language based rules of the world create a psychodynamic system in which behavior and beliefs are more influenced by the principles of language and cultural beliefs about what is “out there,” than they are by the operational environment – the actual events, objects and processes which occur in the environment and our bodies. This linguistic and egoic orientation can preclude the integration of non-linguistic awarenesses and emotional dynamics, leaving one cut off from the awareness of the physical and non-verbal aspects of relationships and existence. The presumed superiority and self-sufficiency of left brain linguistic rationality prevents the integrative whole brain thinking necessary for incorporating multileveled perspectives on consciousness. It is the paleomammalian brain which provides the integration of empathy with imagination. The neocortex and left brain potentials alone are insufficient for understanding the nature of human behavior and potentials, since it is the evolutionarily prior bases which organize behavior and manage the basic social and emotional dynamics of humans. The neocortex depends upon the inputs from the older brain systems, which provide information about the physical and social environments and the memory based affective evaluations associated with those situations. These provide the basic levels of meaning which are integrated into the language based perceptions.

While these modern developments of the mind are often overly obsessed with their own determinants of knowledge and awareness, they rely upon information processing provided by the intuitive representations, affective associations and decision making processes of the righthemisphere and the limbic system. The contributions of the limbic system to higher cognitive processes is fundamental since the requisite memory, sense of self, and conviction about the validity of perceptions and beliefs are derived from processes of this area of the brain. While the left hemisphere provides the most complex representations of meaning, meaning and certainty are construed by the processes which are subneocortical. “`Assurance` and `conviction` about what matters are right brain responses to limbic activity in the service of survival of the self and continuity of the species” (ASHBROOK 1993b: 192). Right-brain cognition operates according to a situational logic and an imaginative interpretation of the meaning of interconnected simultaneous patterns, constructed with an integration of information from the left-hemisphere, limbic system and other parts of the brain.

What is necessary for human thought and action is a recognition of the totality of the situation, based on the integration of many different kinds of information and competing motivations. Consciousness involves the functions of both hemispheres, as well as the older brain. Consciousness includes the left hemisphere`s observing and objectifying activities; the right hemisphere`s integration, interpretation and pattern construction; and the paleomammalian brain`s evaluative functions and social-empathic responses, integrated with R-complex based behavioral routines. The total organism integrates the left hemisphere cultural rationalities with the right hemisphere gestalt perceptions and the limbic system`s psychosocial needs, emotional motivations, and sense of certainty. Psychointegrator agents induce this integration through the stimulation of the brain in a number of ways. Psychointegrators interfere with habituated behavioral routines, enhance information integration and distribution, farce conscious awareness of repressed materials, and stimulate dramatic representations in the neocortex. This results in the remembering and processing of critical emotional dynamics and their integration and resolution.

6. Conclusions

The neurobiological basis of ASC. spiritual, mystical and transcendental experiences requires new perspectives on the traditional ideas of brain and mind, science and religion. These are represented in neurophenomenological approaches (e.g., LAUGHLIN ET AL. 1990) which seek to establish the relationship of neurological processes to phenomenological experience. Neurophenomenological perspectives bridge the gap between science and religion by making the subjective mental states a legitimate part of the scientific inquiry, and integrating science and phenomenology in a way which permits the construction of a common naturalistic foundation for both science and religion (ASHBROOK 1993a). Psychointegrative plants have played a vital role in leading investigations into this interface between the external environment and the subjective experiences which underlie human perceptions and beliefs. They have also expanded the range of phenomenal experiences which must be encompassed in a comprehensive theory of consciousness. The use of psychointegrators is widespread in magico-religious ritual activities, and points to needs based in interpretative and motivational forces of humans. TREVARTHEN (1993) points to the possibility that universals of human culture are a consequence of inherent forms of brain activity. The psychointegratively based ASC healing traditions reflect the elicitation of such neurophenomenological structures. The spiritual aspects of human inquiry represent the physical side of human needs as well, manifested in fundamental emotional relations in attachment and bonding. Emotions are not superficial aspects of human existence, but are directly tied to fundamental aspects of bodily maintenance and reproduction, personal and group survival, and illness and psychopathology.

Emotional functions of the brain have been directly implicated in the instinctual drives and psychopathologies, but their role in everyday experiences and cognitions have been often overlooked. They provide a basis for normal experience of self-awareness and self-consciousness, and play a central role in rhythmic patterned social activities such as drama, music, dance, art, human relations and social leadership, solidarity or exclusion. One of the functions of the paleo-mammalian brain is participation in patterned processes of group interaction and social signaling which promote a sense of community (TREVARTHEN 1993). Such community identification provides for cooperation – physically, socially and mentally – in ways which enhance human adaptation and survival. The basis of consciousness is deeply intertwined with a sense of “cominunitas”/community, where the empathy with other humans provides the basis for self-consciousness. The fundamental roles of attachment, emotions and the social “other” in human learning and development are based in the paleomammalian brain. They are elicited by psychointegratars, which evoke both fundamental emotional issues related to the bonding of humans to others, and the broader relationships of humans to nature and cosmos as well.

Human behavior requires the coordination of the brain`s information seeking and processing with motivations and the personal significance of the information acquired. This is not merely a rational mode of thought, but a linking together of the emotional bases of human beings in building the cognitive and rational faculties of the species. Emotions and reason are necessarily interdependent aspects of the entirety of the human psyche, and psychointegrator agents induce their integration by stimulating the emotionally most salient and critical material into consciousness. The neurological basis from which psychointegrative plants produce their transcendent, mystical, and transpersonal experiences suggests that the neurologically induced changes in the brain`s information processing led to the evolution of uniquely human aspects of transpersonal consciousness. Shamanism has been considered the first form of evolution of human consciousness to the transpersonal levels (WALSH 1990), a psychophysiological transformation which enabled enhanced psychosocial functioning. The role of psychointegrative plants in promoting this evolution of consciousness is consistent with the close relationship found cross-culturally between shamanism and psychointegrators and their ability to provoke transpersonal experiences. While the psychointegrators are not in and of themselves the source of transcendent experiences, they do evoke systemic conditions which induce or facilitate the emergence of these experiences and developments. Research prompted by psychointegrators has provided new perspectives on the nature of human consciousness. But thus far they remain heretofore inadequately examined tools for understanding human consciousness and its` potentials.

The imperative need to understand the constructive roles and potentials of psychointegrative plants in human cultures is illustrated by the psychological roles of ASC in meeting human needs. The inescapable importance of ASC in human behavior is attested to by many lines of evidence. ASC represent basic biological needs, manifested in the universal distribution of ASC based shamanistic healing (WINKELMAN 1986a, 1992). SIEGAL`s (1990) review similarly illustrates that humans have an innate drive to seek ASC and transpersonal experiences. This indicates that religion, and in particular shamanistic healing, has provided an institutionalized basis for meeting these human needs. Contemporary European origin societies have held negative views of most ASC, particularly those characterized as “consciousness expanding.” mystical. religious, or spiritual. The consequences for a society which views such behavior as aberrant, atavistic and pathological are serious, given the fundamental biological origins and needs for these transformative conditions.

The failure of mainstream religious organizations or other legitimated social institutions to address the fundamental human drives represented in ASC means that other forms of social behavior develop to meet these needs. The “drug problem” which has captured the attention of the U.S. and other industrialized societies for decades reflects one consequence of the failure of legitimate institutions to address and fulfill these needs. Drug addicted or dependent ASC function as alternate responses to more permanent, fulfilling and transcendent means of meeting these basic human needs for the alteration of consciousness, personal transcendence and integration. The non-addictive properties and rapid tolerance characteristic of psychointegrators, combined with their powerful mental and emotional effects, make them prime candidates for such use. The institutionalization of these ASC in other societies is explicitly in the context of healing, a “wholeing” of the individual represented in the integration of different aspects of brain function. The common Indo-European linguistic root (kailo) of the wards heal, whole and holy reflect this conjunction of healing and religious experience, a fundamental adaptation of human societies to the transformation of consciousness for health, well-being and transcendence. Employing psychointegrator agents in socially supported contexts provides a means of achieving this integration and transcendence. Societies which institutionalize their use benefit from their powerful mental and emotional effects. Societies which repress and outlaw their use risk their powerful personal effects forming the basis of counter-cultural opposition.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank David Jacobs, Stanley Krippner, Walter Andritzky, and U. Stockhorst for their useful comments on this article. I also thank Marsha Schweitzer for her assistance with word processing of the manuscript.

Copyright Michael Winkelman

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