Ecstasy...empathy...openness...compassion...peace...acceptance...being...forgiveness...healing...re-birth...unity...emotional bonding... caring...celebration...these are some of the terms people use to describe their experiences with a new class of substances, of which MDMA ("Adam", or "XTC") has become the best known. Related to the psychedelics ("mind-manifesting") substances such as LSD and mescaline, these substances are different in that they do not usually produce visions, hallucinations, altered perceptions of reality, or extreme states of fear, or depression. Because of the extraordinarily high percentage of major positive insight experiences reported with these substances, and the relatively low incidence of undesirable side-effects, these drugs have attracted favorable attention from a number of psychotherapists, who regard them as reliable facilitators of therapeutic insight and change. They have also been used by some teachers and practitioners of meditation, who see them as important amplifiers of emotional and sensory awareness, and as aids to spiritual practice.

This book is a collection of personal accounts of these kinds of substanceinduced states of heightened awareness, which are remarkable for the uniformity with which people affirm their positive value, and for the diversity and range of individual differences. The experiences reported here all occurred within a context of either psychotherapy, or serious self-exploration, or relationship communication, or spiritual practice. Some are accounts of individuals with psychological disturbances, including two rape victims, who took the substance as part of their therapy. Most of the individuals do not have serious disturbances, and took the substances, with guidance, in order to further their personal and spiritual growth. Since MDMA first became known in these circles in the early 1970's, its use by therapists and individuals was not illegal - until the FDA, invoking emergency powers, placed it on Schedule I in July 1985. Because of the change in its legal status, and for obvious reasons of confidentiality, the individuals reporting, the therapists or group leaders facilitating, and the researcher who compiled and edited the accounts have all chosen to remain anonymous.

The research with psychedelic drugs carried out during the 1969s led to the hypothesis, widely accepted by workers in the field, that psychedelics are nonspecific psychic amplifiers, and that the content of a psychedelic experience is primarily a function of the "set" (expectations, intention, attitude, personality) and the "setting" (physical and social context, presence and attitude of others including guide). This set-and-setting hypothesis is a useful model in coming to understand the experiences with MDMA also: the specific insights, feelings and resolutions of problems that occur are unique to the individual; but the commonality exists in the kinds of feeling states named at the beginning of this foreword. Individuals are able, if their intention in taking the substance is serious and therapeutic, to use the state to resolve long-standing intrapsychic conflicts or interpersonal problems in relationships. One therapist has estimated that in five hours of one Adam session clients could activate and process psychic material that would normally require five months of weekly therapy sessions.

Teachers and practitioners of meditation and related forms of spiritual work describe the experience as being fundamentally an opening of the heartcenter -- which is considered in most systems to be the foundation for all further psychospiritual growth and practice. One teacher suggested that the Adam experience facilitates the dissolving of barriers between body, mind, and spirit: one senses the aware presence of spirit infusing the structures of the body and the images and attitudes of the mind. Awareness expands to include all parts of the body, all aspects of mind, and the "higher" reaches of Spirit -- thus permitting a kind of re-connecting, a remembering of the totality of our experience, an access to forgotten truths.

Because of the importance of the set and setting variables, a brief description of the nature of the set and the setting was requested of each of the individuals whose accounts were included. These are shown at the bottom of the first page of each account; and one can obtain a pretty clear sense of the operation of this principle by comparing that statement with the content of the experience. In addition, the text lists as "catalyst" the precise identity and the amount of the particular substance used. In other research on altered states of consciousness, the catalyst or trigger of a mind-opening experience can be rhythmic drumming, hypnotic induction, a meditation practice, a particular piece of music or other factors. In the case of these substances, the catalyst triggers a change of feeling state, in which the insights and perceptions that take place (though often appearing ordinary and commonplace when they are afterwards described to others) are felt with a depth and poignancy of emotion that was for most people unheard of in their lives, up to the time of that first experience.

This is not to say that similar or identical changes of consciousness could not be produced or arrived at without the use of these empathogenic substances. Obviously, many people have in the past, and continue to have, empathic and heart-opening experiences without the use of any external aid, pharmaceutical or other. And those individuals who are able to attain such insights and solutions without external catalysts are clearly to be commended. For the people whose experiences are recounted in this volume, the heightened and deepened state of awareness facilitated by the drug served as a kind of preview, as it were, a taste of the possibilities that exist for much greater emotional openness and relatedness than they had imagined. They are clearly aware, too, that the drug-experience is a temporary state, and one that can be converted into the ongoing reality of everyday consciousness only with continuing therapeutic and spiritual practice -- and not with the continued use of the drug. Most people do not want to repeat the experience very often -- it is felt to be too intense, too sacred. Although the possibility of becoming psychologically dependent on this, or any drug, cannot be ruled out, there is a fairly high degree of consensus that it is not addicting.

The folklore and terminology that arose around these substances gives one a good indication of the basic nature of the experience. "XTC" or "Ecstasy" as a name points to the striking qualities of emotional warmth, well-being, euphoria, pleasure, joy and sensuality almost universally reported. Some researchers proposed the term "empathogenic" (as a sub-class of psychedelics) for this class of drugs: this is a term meaning "empathy generating"; and it conforms to the quality of emotional bonding with intellectual clarity so often reported. People feel they have true compassion, forgiveness, and understanding for those with whom they have important relationships; and most importantly, for themselves, for their ordinary, neurotic, childish, struggling persona or ego. Another term proposed was "phobiolytic", which means "dissolving phobias" or "fear dissolving". The relative absence or attenuation of normal amounts of anxiety and fear in these states is perhaps the single most important feature in regard to their therapeutic value. People report being able to think about, talk about, and deal with inner or outer issues that are otherwise always avoided because of the anxiety levels normally associated with those issues.

Perhaps the most interesting code name for MDMA, that seems to have originated with a group of therapists on the West Coast, is the term "Adam", by which is meant not Adam as man, but rather Adam-and-Eve as androgynous ancestor. The figure of Adam is a highly important symbolic figure in Gnostic and Hermetic writings, and C. G. Jung wrote extensively about it. He represents the "primordial man", the "original being", the "man of Earth", the condition of primal innocence, and unity with all life, as described in the Bible's account of the Garden of Eden. This is an experience not infrequently described in these accounts...with variations such as "returning home", "finding one's original nature", "celebrating and honoring one's ancestors", and feelings of connectedness and bonding with fellow human beings, animals, plants, and all the forms and energies of the natural world. One therapist calls psychedelics "Gnostic catalysts."

The accounts presented in this book derive from about fifty individuals, of various ages, professions, and degrees of psychospiritual sophistication. They were apparently gathered from about 20 therapists, mostly, though not exclusively, from the West Coast of the United States.

Some of the reports are from guided therapeutic sessions; others are from sessions with serious psychological or spiritual intention, where the "sitter" might be a trusted friend or partner, rather than a therapist. A considerable number are by individuals who are themselves therapists -- which raises some of the most promising potentials of these substances in the training of therapists. A smaller number of reports are from group experiences, usually of a highly structured or ritualistic nature. Although the relatively unstructured, recreational use in small groups is probably more common, most people are agreed that the use of rituals similar to those of the Native American Church, or other shamanic traditions, is the preferred mode of operation when powerful sacramental substances are taken in a group context.

The editor of this volume, the writers of the Foreword and Guidelines, and the publishers, do not advocate the use of any illegal substance. Nor do they advocate that individuals attempt to treat their own medical or psychological problems with the use of this or any other substance. Nor do they recommend the use of these substances by individuals without the supervision and consultation of one's physician. Given these obvious limitations on the use and accessibility of these drugs, the question might be raised as to the point of publishing these accounts...since the experience with MDMA is now one that has become illegal. The answer to this question that the therapists and their clients using these substances would give, is that it is in the public's interest to be aware of what is an extraordinarily promising new tool for the exploration of the human mind and for the improvement of human relations.

Perhaps greater public knowledge of these substances and their potential human benefits can lead to a considered re-examination of the social and legal framework with which our society deals with such matters, so that as other substances of similar import are discovered, their uses and potentials will not be wasted. Many of the individuals whose experience is recounted in this volume expressed the wish and hope that, given the gravity of the planetary crisis in which we find ourselves, aids to the evolution of consciousness such as these substances will be thoroughly explored, and applied to the solution of the immense human problems that confront us.

Note: very little has been written and published in the psychological or psychiatric literature about these relatively new substances. Interested readers are referred to two special issues on MDMA in Brain Mind Bulletin (Vol. 10, No. 8, April 15, 1985; and Vol. 10, No. 12, July 8, 1985), which provide an overview of current medical and legal perspectives. Other sources of additional information on this class of substances are Chocolate to Morphine, by Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983); and Psychedelics Encyclopedia, by Peter Stafford (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1983). In addition, there is a very interesting earlier book, by the Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo, The Healing Journey (New York: Random House, 1983), that presents detailed clinical studies of MDA and MMDA, two related "empathogenic" substances.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES - WOMEN
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES - MEN
GROUP EXPERIENCES