Acid Revival: The Psychedelic Renaissance and the Quest for Medical Legitimacy

by Danielle Giffort Narrated by Leslie Howard

Overview

Psychedelic drugs are making a comeback. In the mid-twentieth century, scientists actively studied the potential of drugs like LSD and psilocybin for treating mental health problems. After a decades-long hiatus, researchers are once again testing how effective these drugs are in relieving symptoms for a wide variety of psychiatric conditions, from depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder to posttraumatic stress disorder and substance addiction. In Acid Revival, Danielle Giffort examines how this new generation of researchers and their allies are working to rehabilitate psychedelic drugs and to usher in a new era of psychedelic medicine.



As this team of researchers and mental health professionals revive the field of psychedelic science, they are haunted by the past and by one person in particular: psychedelic evangelist Timothy Leary. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with people working on scientific psychedelia, Giffort shows how today's researchers tell stories about Leary as an "impure" scientist and perform his antithesis to address a series of lingering dilemmas that threaten to rupture their budding legitimacy. Acid Revival presents new information about the so-called psychedelic renaissance and highlights the cultural work involved with the reassembly of dormant areas of medical science.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Acid Revival will appeal to those interested in psychedelic research past and present. The candid interviews the book offers makes it a unique source."—Psymposia

"The book will make informative and accessible reading in undergraduate and graduate courses on the field of mental health and the sociology of science."—Oxford Academic

"Acid Revival will no doubt become a reference point for those interested in psychiatry’s varied attempts to reinvent itself as it has sought to conquer what Whooley (2019) has called its stubborn ‘ignorance.’"—Social Forces

"A thorough case study relevant to the history of science."—Isis Journal

"Acid Revival is an engaging and accessible read for anyone interested in scientific expertise or psychedelic science and its history. Giffort’s timely focus on psychedelic expertise provides a useful framework that science studies scholars can build on."—Journal of Behavioral Sciences

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178978184
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/27/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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