Oscar Janiger
Encyclopedia
Oscar Janiger was a University of California Irvine Psychiatrist
who was best known for his LSD
research, which lasted from 1954 to 1962.
Nine hundred people took LSD (usually 2 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight) and recorded their experiences. The participants included college students, a Deputy Marshall, housewives, attorneys, clerical assistants, counselors, medical personnel, dentists, physicians, and engineers.
A substudy within Janiger's research focused specifically on artists and creativity
. One patient of Dr. Janiger, bipolar and alcoholic artist Frank Murdoch, was given a controlled, experimental dose of LSD for several months as an attempt to cure his late stage alcoholism (probably a less well-known purpose to his LSD experiments, but very common in the era). Janiger had Murdoch paint still-lives both on and off LSD, including a Kachina doll (that he reportedly had 70 other patients also paint).
The artists produced some 250 paintings and drawings after ingesting LSD. Historian Carl Hertel analyzed the art in 1971 and compared it to the artists' non-LSD work. Hertel found while the LSD art was neither superior nor inferior to the artists' other work, it was brighter, more abstract
and non-representational, and tended to fill the entire canvas. One of the artists, Burt Shonberg Link label became one of Hollywood's most famous and sought after works.
Two follow-up studies have been done. The first, done by Janiger around 1968, collected questionnaires from about 200 of the original participants. Much of this data remains unanalyzed and only a limited amount has been published.
A second follow-up study was conducted in 1999 by Rick Doblin
, Jerome E. Beck, Kate Chapman and Maureen Alioto, forty years after the original experimental LSD sessions. Taped interviews were completed by 45 of Janiger's original participants, as well as Janiger himself. The study concluded that the experiences were positive overall, but only 1/3 of the follow-up subjects reported long-term benefits from the LSD experiences.
Janiger published a few journal articles and one book entitled "A Different Kind of Healing" in 1993 with Philip Goldberg. The book details physicians' views on the use of alternative medicine
within traditional medical practise. Janiger also coauthored a second book with Marlene Dobkin de Rios about his LSD research—which was published (posthumously) in 2003 by Park Street Press—entitled "LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process". Janiger was affectionately referred to as Oz by his close friends.
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
who was best known for his LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
research, which lasted from 1954 to 1962.
Nine hundred people took LSD (usually 2 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight) and recorded their experiences. The participants included college students, a Deputy Marshall, housewives, attorneys, clerical assistants, counselors, medical personnel, dentists, physicians, and engineers.
A substudy within Janiger's research focused specifically on artists and creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
. One patient of Dr. Janiger, bipolar and alcoholic artist Frank Murdoch, was given a controlled, experimental dose of LSD for several months as an attempt to cure his late stage alcoholism (probably a less well-known purpose to his LSD experiments, but very common in the era). Janiger had Murdoch paint still-lives both on and off LSD, including a Kachina doll (that he reportedly had 70 other patients also paint).
The artists produced some 250 paintings and drawings after ingesting LSD. Historian Carl Hertel analyzed the art in 1971 and compared it to the artists' non-LSD work. Hertel found while the LSD art was neither superior nor inferior to the artists' other work, it was brighter, more abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
and non-representational, and tended to fill the entire canvas. One of the artists, Burt Shonberg Link label became one of Hollywood's most famous and sought after works.
Two follow-up studies have been done. The first, done by Janiger around 1968, collected questionnaires from about 200 of the original participants. Much of this data remains unanalyzed and only a limited amount has been published.
A second follow-up study was conducted in 1999 by Rick Doblin
Rick Doblin
Rick Doblin is the president and founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies .He co-founded Earth Metabolic Design Laboratories in 1984 to support psychedelic research and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in 1986 with the goal of making MDMA an...
, Jerome E. Beck, Kate Chapman and Maureen Alioto, forty years after the original experimental LSD sessions. Taped interviews were completed by 45 of Janiger's original participants, as well as Janiger himself. The study concluded that the experiences were positive overall, but only 1/3 of the follow-up subjects reported long-term benefits from the LSD experiences.
Janiger published a few journal articles and one book entitled "A Different Kind of Healing" in 1993 with Philip Goldberg. The book details physicians' views on the use of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
within traditional medical practise. Janiger also coauthored a second book with Marlene Dobkin de Rios about his LSD research—which was published (posthumously) in 2003 by Park Street Press—entitled "LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process". Janiger was affectionately referred to as Oz by his close friends.