aeolian: переводы

→Much of the early LSD research was inspired and strongly influenced by the so-called "model psychosis" approach. The incredible potency of LSD and the fact that infinitesimally small quantities could profoundly alter mental functioning of otherwise healthy volunteers gave a new impetus to speculations about the basically biochemical nature of endogenous psychoses, particularly schizophrenia. It was repeatedly observed that microscopic doses of LSD, in the range of 25 to 100 micrograms, were sufficient to produce changes in perception, emotions, idea­tion and behavior that resembled those seen in some schizophrenic patients. It was conceivable that the metabolism of the human body could, under certain circum­stances, produce such small quantities of an abnormal substance identical with or similar to LSD. According to this tempting hypothesis, endogenous psychoses such as schizophrenia would not be primarily mental disorders, but manifestations of an autointoxication of the organism and the brain caused by a pathological shift in body chemistry. The possibility of simulating schizophrenic symptoms in normal volunteers and of conducting complex laboratory tests and investigations before, during, and after this transient "model psychosis" seemed to offer a promising key to the understanding of psychiatry's most enigmatic disease.

→EARLY LABORATORY AND CLINICAL LSD RESEARCH

→The next important figure in the history of LSD was Walter Stoll, son of Hofmann's superior and psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich. He found the new psychoactive substance of great interest and conducted the first scientific study of LSD in normal volunteers and psychiatric patients. His observations of the LSD effects in these two categories of subjects were published in 1947. (97) This report became a sensation in the scientific world and stimulated an unusual amount of laboratory and clinical research in many countries.

→This was the first planned experiment with LSD, and it proved in a dramatic and convincing way Hofmann's hypothesis about the mind-altering effects of LSD. Subsequent experiments with volunteers from the Sandoz Research Labora­tories confirmed the extraordinary influence of this drug on the human mind.

→"The doctor found a rather weak pulse, but an otherwise normal circu­lation. ... Six hours after ingestion of the LSD, my condition had already improved considerably. Only the visual disturbances were still pronounced. Everything seemed to sway and the proportions were distorted like reflec­tions in the surface of moving water. Moreover, all the objects appeared in unpleasant, constantly changing colors, the predominant shades being sickly green and blue. When I closed my eyes, an unending series of colorful, very realistic and fantastic images surged in upon me. A remarkable feature was the manner in which all acoustic perceptions, (e.g. the noise of a passing car), were transformed into optical effects, every sound evoking a cor­responding colored hallucination constantly changing in shape and color like pictures in a kaleidoscope. At about one o'clock, I fell asleep and awoke the next morning feeling perfectly well."

→"By the time the doctor arrived, the peak of the crisis had already passed. As far as I remember, the following were the most outstanding symptoms: vertigo; visual disturbances; the faces of those around me ap­peared as grotesque, colored masks; marked motoric unrest, alternating with paralysis; an intermittent heavy feeling in the head, limbs, and the en­tire body, as if they were filled with lead; dry, constricted sensation in the throat; feeling of choking; clear recognition of my condition, in which state I sometimes observed, in the manner of an independent, neutral observer, that I shouted half-insanely or babbled incoherent words. Occasionally, I felt as if I were out of my body.

→"At this point, the laboratory notes are discontinued; the last words were written only with great difficulty. I asked my laboratory assistant to accompany me home, as I believed that I should have a repetition of the dis­turbance of the previous Friday. While we were cycling home, however, it became clear that the symptoms were much stronger than the first time. I had great difficulty in speaking coherently, my field of vision swayed before me, and objects appeared distorted like images in curved mirrors. I had the impression of being unable to move from the spot, although my assistant told me afterwards that we had cycled at a good pace. Once I was at home, the physician was called.

→About forty minutes after the ingestion, Hofmann started experiencing dizziness and unrest; he had difficulties in concentration, disturbances of visual perception, and a strong unmotivated desire to laugh. He found it impossible to keep a written protocol about his experiment as originally planned. The following is an excerpt from his subsequent report written for Professor Stoll: (38)

→After he had returned to his usual state of consciousness, Hofmann was able to make the hypothetical link between his extraordinary experiences and the possi­bility of accidental intoxication by the drug he was working with. However, he could not understand how the LSD had found its way into his body in a sufficient quantity to produce such phenomena. He was also puzzled by the nature of the effects, which were quite different from those associated with ergot poisoning. Three days later he intentionally ingested a known quantity of LSD, to put his suspicions to a solid scientific test. Being a very conservative and cautious person, he decided to take only 250 micrograms,1 which he considered to be a minute dose judging by the usual dosage level of other related ergot alkaloids. At that time he had no way of knowing that he was experimenting with the most powerful psychoactive drug known to man. The dose he chose and ingested without any special preparation, or any knowledge about psychedelic states, would at present be considered a high dose and has been referred to in the LSD literature as a "single overwhelming dose." If used in clinical practice it is preceded by many hours of preparatory psychotherapy and requires a trained and experienced guide to handle all the complications that might occur.

→"Last Friday, April 16, 1943, I was forced to stop my work in the labor­atory in the middle of the afternoon and to go home, as I was seized by a peculiar restlessness associated with a sensation of mild dizziness. On arriv­ing home, I lay down and sank into a kind of drunkenness, which was not unpleasant and which was characterized by extreme activity of the imagina­tion. As I lay in a dazed condition with my eyes closed, (I experienced day­light as disagreeably bright) there surged upon me an uninterrupted stream of fantastic images of extraordinary plasticity and vividness, accompanied by an intense kaleidoscope-like play of colors. This condition gradually passed off after two hours."

→The unique properties of the new substance were brought to the attention of the researchers by a series of events involving a fortuitous accident. In 1943 Albert Hofmann was reviewing the results of early pharmacological tests on LSD and decided to investigate the stimulating effects on the central nervous system indi­cated in animal experiments. Because of its structural similarity with the circu­latory stimulant nikethamide, LSD seemed promising as an analeptic substance. Feeling that it would be worthwhile to carry out more profound studies with this compound, Albert Hofmann decided to synthesize a new sample. However, even the most sophisticated experiments in animals would not have detected the psychedelic effects of LSD, since such specifically human responses cannot be anticipated on the basis of animal data alone. A laboratory accident came to the help of the researchers; by a strange play of destiny Albert Hofmann became an involuntary subject in one of the most exciting and influential experiments in the history of science. Working on the synthesis of a new sample of LSD, he acci­dentally intoxicated himself during the purification of the condensation products. The following is Albert Hofmann's own description of the perceptual and emotional changes that he experienced as a result: (38)