PSYCHEDELICS - Sciencemadness.org

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____________________________________________________ Psychedelics
Clear and distinct vision. Four subjects and the simulator
responded positively, and one hypnotic subject negatively, to
this condition. The subject who reacted negatively reported
that everything seemed too clear to him and stood out hor-
ribly in all its ugliness. The others became impressed with
the beauty of small details such as the interweaving of the
mesh of a screen and the pattern inherent in a cigarette ash.
One subject was impressed by his own separateness and the
separateness and self-existence of everything around him. The
simulator reported an increased preoccupation with the en-
vironment around him, which made him happier as he moved
away from himself.
All six subjects reported an increased preoccupation with
the world. Five subjects and the simulator became energized
and happy as a result; one subject was made anxious. This
supports Palmer's thesis (1966) that some individuals may
adopt nearsightedness as a defense against too much sensory
input. Form and light seemed augmented for all the subjects,
including the simulator. Four hypnotic subjects reported an
increased intensity of color and also increased clarity of per-
ception of stimuli in all sense modalities. All subjects but the
one responding negatively reported a feeling of increased abil-
ity to think clearly.
Decreased size. Four hypnotic subjects and the simulator
experienced this condition. Each of the hypnotic subjects re-
sponded initially with withdrawal, marked anxiety, and dis-
turbance of relationships with the world around them. The
simulator became happy and expansive. As the world was
small and he was large, he felt that he now had nothing to
fear from anyone. Two hypnotic subjects in the course of the
day made their perceived selves physically smaller to bring
themselves into scale with the world, and one made himself
younger. The fourth hypnotic subject remained out of scale,
isolated and unable to adapt to anything around him. To the
extent that the subjects were able to bring themselves into
accord with the perceived scale of the world, their moods
lightened. Only one subject was able to make a complete
translation of his perceived scale to that of the world about
him. The other two subjects who attempted to make this kind