Jean Delay (1907–1987)

(1) 1st Printing of an important paper one of the very first in any language (with the following one), on the medical application of psilocybin by the famous French psychiatrist and neurologist Jean DELAY (1907-1987). He obtained the psilocybin through Heim from Hofman in 1958 and experiment it on himself. Delay pioneered research on drugs including LSD, mescaline and psilocybin (7 pages)
Jean Delay (1907–1987) was a famous French psychiatrist, neurologist, writer, and a member of the Académie française. He has been the discover of the Chlorpromazine which turned out to be the first effective drug treatment for mental illness and it had a profound effect on the mentally ill and mental asylums. In 1957, he developed with his assistant Pierre Deniker a classification of pharmacological and recreational drugs that was validated by the World Congress of Psychiatry in 1961. Delay pioneered research on drugs including LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. He was the first psychiatrist in the world to study psilocybin and experiment it on himself in 1958.
The paper describes the family environment, the story of the illness, the clinical study, the physical examination of this woman who had compulsive ideas (irresistible desire to eat elicited by the sight of food, followed by intense remorse) who was first treated with chlorpromazine unsuccessfully. She received 2 doses of Psilocybin by injection, as a trial. The first test performed when the patient was still receiving chlorpromazine (100 mg. daily), did not lead to any emotional abreaction or affective recall. However, it permitted the patient to express, in an euphoric manner, her fundamental desire to be freed from her body.
The second test performed 4 days later (after discontinuation of chlorpromazine) brought back an unrestrained and extremely violent abundance of memories; it revealed that the patient was aware of the origin of her neurosis and especially her grievances against her mother. Childhood memories, forgotten until now, were relived in their emotional context, especially the separation from the person she regarded as her second mother. An episode of anorexia at the age of 6 was thus explained. This second injection of Psilocybin brought about a definite improvement of the patient. One month after she had gained 7 kg of weight. She considered afterwards her experience as very beneficial. Not in Ott.
(2) 1st Printing of a very interesting paper on an experimentation made on 8 healthy subjects under LSD (7 pages)
The paper is devoted to the study on 8 healthy subjects, by Benda and Orsini of the effect of LSD on the sense of time included the following investigation reported for the first time: choice of a metronome rhythm; determination of “spontaneous time” i.e. the steady rhythm of the subject knocking on a recording instrument; reaction time, determined in various types of experiment, by a signal that is given by the subject in response to an acoustic stimulus; immediate memory determined by repeating numerical series backwards and forwards. The rhythm preferred was delayed significantly by LSD, as a result of a delay in the subjective passage of time. The spontaneous rhythm was not uniformly influenced by LSD. The reaction time was significantly prolonged by LSD. The immediate memories are remarkably influenced by LSD, especially because of the inability to concentrate. The memory tests showed more errors compared with subjects not on LSD. Not in Ott.
(3) 1st Printing of an interesting paper by the same authors showing that the slowing of the subjective time under LSD is probably not due to a specific effect of LSD but to various factors. (9 pages)
These factors are: personal rigidity and inflexibility with rapid change of visual impressions; absence of connection between the present and the past; rhythmical change of symptoms, moods and feelings, absent-mindness and diminished evaluation of perceptions. Disturbance in body-image with reduced afferent kinesthetic and proprioceptive connections alters space (things appear far out of reach). This enlargement of the “experienced space” prolongs the subjective impression of time. In the same way, LSD makes it difficult to perform tests. Not in Ott. - Aymon de Lestrange… (més)

(1) 1st Printing of an important paper one of the very first in any language on the medical application of psilocybin by the famous French psychiatrist and neurologist Jean DELAY (1907-1987). Delay pioneered research on drugs including LSD, mescaline and psilocybin. (9 pages)
This paper recalls the pioneer researches of Roger Heim and Albert Hofmann and then gives the results of an experimentation that he had conducted on 13 “normal subjects” (16 protocols on 11 men & 2 women) and on 30 patients women (36 protocols) to whom has been given 10mg of psilocybin pills from Sandoz. The somatic effects are described among the 2 groups: the neurovegetative effects, the neurologic effects and the general disorders. Somatic effects of the drug are mydriasis, vasomotor disturbances, changes in heart rate, blood pressure and reflexes. The major somatic effects are similar in normal subjects and mental patients. However, certain symptoms (asthenia, somnolence, cephalgia, trembling, yawning, digestive upsets) are decidedly more common in healthy subjects. Normal individuals are doubtless more sensitive than mental patients to minimal changes in their physiological equilibrium. The difference between the two groups can probably be explained in part by the fact that the healthy subjects are more accurate in their observation. Unlike other psychodysleptics (mescaline, LSD) Psilocybin is inclined to produce a fall in blood pressure and bradycardia. Not in Ott.
(2) 1st Printing of an important early paper by the same author on the psychic effects of psilocybin. (9 pages)
This paper gives the results of the same experimentation described above with an emphasis on the psychic effects occasioned by the administration of psilocybin pills among these 2 groups: mainly mood changes, consciousness disorders, contact with the outside world, variations of the behavior, psycho-sensory phenomena, body transformations, delusional constructions, reminiscences.
The following changes were noted: mood: euphoria, often alternating with dysphoria (discomfort, apprehensiveness) or marked anxiety. Consciousness: disturbed attention, ideation or sense of time. Contact with the environment: a turning away from reality or complete isolation. Behavior: excitement (compulsive movements, unmotivated laughter) sometimes alternating with apathy, which was occasionally almost catatonia-like. Perception: marked intensity of sensory impressions; illusions and hallucinations (especially visual but also acoustic or gustatory), acoustic and optical synesthesia. Body image: kinesthetic disorders, depersonalization. Delusional thinking: antagonistic misinterpretation of environment. Bizarre sensations resembling those previously experienced. Memory: stimulation of memory of childhood or traumatic experiences. The release of forgotten material and the release of inhibitions (emotional abreaction) could be of therapeutic value. Psilocybin has a slighter hallucinogenic effect than mescaline and its depersonalizing effect is less than that of LSD. Not in Ott - Aymon de Lestrange… (més)