In their letter soliciting contributions to this book, the editors wrote, "we came to the conclusion that psychedelic drugs have influenced both the lives of individual users and society in general more than is usually acknowledged—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. " I was delighted to receive their invitation, since these words almost exactly expressed my own conclusions after 8 years of psychiatric clinical and research work. For 5 of those 8 years I have worked in areas such as the nature of psychological well-being, non-Western psychologies and religions, consciousness, and the effects of meditation. I have also undertaken a personal study of meditative and non-Western traditions, and I thus have had the opportunity of meeting, interviewing, and studying with a wide range of people in these related disciplines. Whenever I came to know these people closely, the same story would emerge: that although they rarely acknowledged it in public, the psychedelics had played an important role in introducing them to and facilitating their passage through these disciplines. It occurred to me that this might well be a case of what social scientists call "plurality ignorance:" a situation in which each individual thinks he or she is the only one doing something, although in fact the practice is widespread. In this case, what seemed to be widely unrecognized was that large numbers of people appear to have derived, at least from their own point of view, significant benefits from psychedelics, despite popular media accounts of their devastating dangers. This suspicion was deepened by an encounter with the editor of a prominent psychological journal. In an extensive review of various Western and non-Western psychologies, I discussed the data on psychedelics and concluded that there was evidence suggesting that in some cases people might find them beneficial. The journal editor was willing to accept the paper provided I removed any reference to positive effects of psychedelics; he thought that the journal could not afford to be associated with such statements. I am familiar with this particular editor's work and know that he is exceptionally open-minded. It appears that we have in our culture, even in the scientific and professional literature, a bias towards reporting only the negative effects of psychedelics. How, then, can we get a picture of the effects of psychedelics when they are used for personal exploration and psychological growth? One approach suggested by Abraham Maslow, but as yet apparently untried in the area of psychedelics, is to ask people who are exceptionally healthy and use them as bioassayers. Maslow's technique was to identify those individuals who seemed to be most fully actualizing their potential; he called them self-actualizers. (1) He listed 13 characteristics, such as a deep involvement in work, peak experiences, and a good sense of humor, which identify individuals who have attained exceptional psychological well-being. While this approach has many advantages, it is not without its drawbacks and limitations. The concept and criteria of self-actualization are by no means clear, and they are largely lacking in research data and support; individuals are chosen subjectively, with all the possible biases which that 1 / 6 Psychedelics and Self-Actualization Written by Roger Walsh Thursday, 07 January 2010 17:30 -Last Updated Saturday, 25 December 2010 21:06 entails. (2) However, in the absence of good empirical tests of high level well-being, we are left for the present with subjective judgments. My research has given me the extraordinary gift of meeting some very remarkable people: mental health professionals, advanced meditators, teachers, gurus, holy people of both East and West who have devoted a large part of their lives to mental training and psychological growth. I have spent considerable time with some of them, interviewing and being interviewed, receiving instruction on various meditative practices, listening to their talks, and socializing. As might be expected, there is a wide range of personalities and psychological maturity. I was able to interview in depth five of the very healthiest Westerners who fit Maslow's criteria and are also successful and eminent in their disciplines. These four men and one woman range in age from their mid-thirties to their forties. All have university degrees; three are psychologists, and the other two are highly sophisticated psychologically. Four are teachers, either of psychology or of one of the consciousness disciplines such as meditation or Buddhism. All have strong national reputations, and most have international reputations; all have published at least one book. I included the criterion of professional eminence in order to insure that the people were competent and would not be dismissed as irresponsible or as dropouts of any sort.