A Comparison of the Phenomenology of Hallucinogens and Schizophrenia From Some Autobiographical Accounts*

Abstract

Over the years there have been many reviews of the phenomenology of hallucinogens and schizophrenia. The vast majority of these have been written by scientists who interviewed research subjects and subsequently extracted and summarized the experiences of these subjects. Comparisons of schizophrenia with drug-induced experiences have proven useful in directing further research aimed at increasing understanding of both phenomena. As Knauer and Maloney (1913) point out, Kraepelin employed this strategyin some of his studies. A somewhat different strategy involves the use of autobiographical accounts. Although a number of autobiographies describing drug experiences and schizophrenia have been written, reviews of these accounts are far less common. In fact, a comparison of the subjective phenomenology of drug experiences and schizophrenia relying exclusively on autobiographies seems to be nonexistent. Hoffer and Osmond (1967), who attach considerable significance to autobiographical accounts of drug experiences in understanding hallucinogens and schizophrenia, have drawn the bulk of their conclusions from second-hand accounts; Kaplan (1964) edited a series of autobiographical accounts by people with a variety of mental illnesses as well as an account from a mescaline experience and another with hashish; Metzner (1968) collected a wealth of autobiographical accounts of experiences with mescaline, psilocybin, and d-lysergic acid (LSD). More recently, Freedman (1974) has reviewed autobiographical accounts of schizophrenia including those told directly to another writer. Her effort focuses on the structure and process of schizophrenic thinking