The effects of LSD-25 and dextroamphetamine on the use of defensive language.

Verified that psychotomimetics attenuate verbal defense mechanisms. This was accomplished by reanalyzing the 5-minute monologues of 7 neurotic depressives who participated in a project (Mechaneck, Feldstein, Dahlberg, & Jaffe, 1968) that examined the effects of LSD and dextroamphetamine on timing aspects of speech. Dosages were subhallucinatory: 15-25 mg dextroamphetamine, 50-100 mg LSD, and a matching placebo. Volunteers received each drug (double-blind) seven or eight times on a random schedule over a 1 1/2-year period; there was a 3-week intertrial interval. The patient provided 5-minute monologues both before and after drug effects. The monologues were transcribed and scored for formal measures of defensive language. Results indicated that LSD caused individuals to make more personal statements and to use explanation and evaluations less often. Dextroamphetamine was found to decrease the use of nonpersonal references.

The effect of psychotomimetics on therapist--patient matching of speech "rhythms".

This study examined the effects of lysergic acid (LSD) and dextroamphetamine (DA) on therapist--patient matching of speech rhythms (mean phrase period) in psychotherapy. LSD, DA, and placebo (PL) were administered repeatedly over a 1 1/2-year period to seven patients in a randomized double-blind design. The second, fourth, and sixth encounters with LSD, DA, and PL were analyzed. These therapy dialogues were processed by an on--off detector of speech which computed probabilities of vocalizing when already talking (T), when listening (L), and when pausing (P) for therapist and patient, respectively. The mean phrase period for the therapist and the patient was calculated from the vocalization probabilities (T, P). The results show that both LSD and DA significantly enhance therapist-patient matching of mean phrase period in the earliest (second) session, an effect that disappears for both drugs, but later for DA (sixth session) than for LSD (fourth session). At no time was this effect observed in PL sessions, nor was the matching a simple function of a therapist--patient convergence of the components (T, P) of the mean phrase period.

The relationship of defensive language behavior in patient monologues to the course of psychoanalysis.

Examined the relationship of the time-course of psychoanalysis to progressive alteration of defensive language behavior in 7 patients. Spontaneous 5-minute monologues were recorded over 1 1/2 years of three-times-a-week individual psychotherapy. Weintraub and Aronson's (1962) formal measures of defensive language were used: nonpersonal references, negators, qualifiers, retractors, explaining expressions of feeling, and evaluators. The magnitude of defensive speech displayed by a patient was able to predict significantly the duration of psychoanalysis undergone by that patient in 4 of 7 cases.

Chromosome examinations after medically administered lysergic acid diethylamide and dextroamphetamine.

The results of the present study demonstrate once again that, on the average, the addition of LSD in vitro leads to chromosome damage in excess of that observed in cultures without such added LSD even though nearly all of the in vitro experiments were carried out on blood cultures derived from patients who had already been started on the drug regime in vivo. By contrast, the present data provide no evidence for a measurable detrimental effect of LSD and DA when administered to patients under medical supervision. It is conceivable that an effect might have emerged had we been able to monitor chromosomes separately before and after administration of LSD and before and after administation of DA, but we consider it unlikely that either drug would exert protective action against potentially damaging consequences of the other. It is conceivable also that damaged cells are sequestered to give rise eventually to neoplasia-prone clones. The likelihood of that possibility can be determined only by long-term follow-up studies.