Doc Nic. Psychology, neuroscience, translational research.
Mark Nicolas

Reading and research

Sources & Primary Materials

The historical record and the contemporary literature, kept in view together.

Primary Sources and Contemporary Evidence

Leary’s original circuit and stage account is cited to the 1977 text. References distinguish research, reviews, theoretical papers, consensus guidance, and scholarly chapters in the discussion. Chapter dates follow the publisher’s first publication records.

Primary sources

  • Leary, T. (1977). Exo-psychology: A manual on the use of the human nervous system according to the instructions of the manufacturers. Starseed/Peace Press. Book record
  • Leary, T. (1988). Info-psychology: A revision of Exo-psychology. Falcon Press. Book record

Contemporary evidence and scholarship

  • Aicher, H. D., Röskamp, A., Moser, M., & Brand, M. (2025). The role and ethics of touch and non-touch in psychedelic-assisted therapy. In T. Majić (Ed.), Psychedelic harm reduction (Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, Vol. 77, pp. 531–566). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_608
  • Argyri, E. K., & Evans, J. (2025). Ontologically challenging psychedelic experiences: Considerations for managing associated distress. In T. Majić (Ed.), Psychedelic harm reduction (Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, Vol. 77, pp. 431–450). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_609
  • Bathje, G. J., Majeski, E., & Kudowor, M. (2022). Psychedelic integration: An analysis of the concept and its practice. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 824077. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.824077
  • Borkel, L. F., Rojas-Hernández, J., Quintana-Hernández, D. J., & Henríquez-Hernández, L. A. (2025). Therapeutic benefit versus epistemic risk: Need for empirical research in psychedelic epistemology. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 188, 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.05.039
  • Bradberry, M. M., Appelbaum, P. S., & Gukasyan, N. (2024). Informed consent in psychedelic-assisted therapy. In T. Majić (Ed.), Psychedelic harm reduction (Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, Vol. 77, pp. 469–493). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2024_559
  • Caporuscio, C., & Fink, S. B. (2024). Epistemic risk reduction in psychedelic-assisted therapy. In T. Majić (Ed.), Psychedelic harm reduction (Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, Vol. 77, pp. 417–430). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2024_531
  • Carhart-Harris, R. L., Kaelen, M., Whalley, M. G., Bolstridge, M., Feilding, A., & Nutt, D. J. (2015). LSD enhances suggestibility in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 232(4), 785–794. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3714-z
  • Dupuis, D. (2021). Psychedelics as tools for belief transmission. Set, setting, suggestibility, and persuasion in the ritual use of hallucinogens. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 730031. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.730031
  • Estric, C., Duron, T., Kabani, S., & Lopez-Castroman, J. (2025). Set and setting of psychedelics for therapeutic use in psychiatry: A systematic review. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 39(9), 910–929. https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811251338214
  • Evans, J., Robinson, O. C., Argyri, E. K., Suseelan, S., Murphy-Beiner, A., McAlpine, R., Luke, D., Michelle, K., & Prideaux, E. (2023). Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: A mixed methods study. PLOS ONE, 18(10), Article e0293349. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293349
  • Gearin, A., Docherty, J., Sun, X., Cheung, E. H.-L., & Tanuseputro, P. (2026). Psychedelic therapy and cultural humility. Translational Psychiatry, 16(1), Article 143. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-03913-x
  • Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2006). Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Psychopharmacology, 187(3), 268–283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
  • Ho, J. T., Preller, K. H., & Lenggenhager, B. (2020). Neuropharmacological modulation of the aberrant bodily self through psychedelics. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 526–541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.006
  • Jacobs, E., Earp, B. D., Appelbaum, P. S., Bruce, L., Cassidy, K., Celidwen, Y., Cheung, K., Clancy, S. K., Devenot, N., Evans, J., Lynch, H. F., Friesen, P., Romeu, A. G., Gehani, N., Maloof, M., Marcus, O., Martin Moen, O., Mertens, M., Nayak, S. M., … Yaden, D. B. (2024). The Hopkins-Oxford Psychedelics Ethics (HOPE) Working Group consensus statement. The American Journal of Bioethics, 24(7), 6–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2342764
  • Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., & Griffiths, R. R. (2008). Human hallucinogen research: Guidelines for safety. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6), 603–620. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881108093587
  • Kamilar-Britt, P., Gordis, E. B., & Earleywine, M. (2023). The therapeutic alliance in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: A novel target for research and interventions. Psychedelic Medicine, 1(4), 262–266. https://doi.org/10.1089/psymed.2023.0020
  • Ly, C., Greb, A. C., Cameron, L. P., Wong, J. M., Barragan, E. V., Wilson, P. C., Burbach, K. F., Soltanzadeh Zarandi, S., Sood, A., Paddy, M. R., Duim, W. C., Dennis, M. Y., McAllister, A. K., Ori-McKenney, K. M., Gray, J. A., & Olson, D. E. (2018). Psychedelics promote structural and functional neural plasticity. Cell Reports, 23(11), 3170–3182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.022
  • McGovern, H. T., Grimmer, H. J., Doss, M. K., Hutchinson, B. T., Timmermann, C., Lyon, A., Corlett, P. R., & Laukkonen, R. E. (2024). An integrated theory of false insights and beliefs under psychedelics. Communications Psychology, 2(1), Article 69. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-024-00120-6
  • McGovern, H. T., Leptourgos, P., Hutchinson, B. T., & Corlett, P. R. (2022). Do psychedelics change beliefs? Psychopharmacology, 239(6), 1809–1821. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-022-06153-1
  • McGuire, A. L., Cohen, I. G., Sisti, D., Baggott, M., Celidwen, Y., Devenot, N., Gracias, S., Grob, C., Harvey, I., Kious, B., Marks, M., Mithoefer, M., Nielson, E., Öngür, D., Pallas, A., Peterson, A., Schenberg, E. E., Summergrad, P., Waters, B., … Yaden, D. B. (2024). Developing an ethics and policy framework for psychedelic clinical care: A consensus statement. JAMA Network Open, 7(6), Article e2414650. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.14650
  • McHerron, D., Barber, M., Ham, R., Liknaitzky, P., Carter, A., & Gardner, J. (2025). The ethical use of therapeutic touch in psychedelic-assisted therapy: A qualitative study of researcher perspectives and experiences. Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, 15, Article 20451253251377191. https://doi.org/10.1177/20451253251377191
  • Szigeti, B., & Heifets, B. D. (2024). Expectancy effects in psychedelic trials. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 9(5), 512–521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.02.004
  • Watts, R., & Luoma, J. B. (2020). The use of the psychological flexibility model to support psychedelic assisted therapy. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 15, 92–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2019.12.004
  • Yehuda, R., & Lehrner, A. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: Putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry, 17(3), 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20568

Historical Image Credits

Dr. Dennis Bogdan. Timothy Leary on a lecture tour, State University of New York at Buffalo (1969). Photographer’s own work, via Wikimedia Commons, individual source record. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. The source grants reuse under this license without a stated territorial restriction. The website image is resized and converted for delivery; the photograph remains under the same license.

The social preview incorporates an adapted photographic inset into an original editorial composition. That composite is also available under CC BY-SA 3.0, with attribution to Dr. Dennis Bogdan for the photograph and Mark Nicolas Research for the composition. No endorsement is implied. View the credited social preview.

The eight contemporary illustrations were created for this resource. They offer conceptual imagery rather than anatomical diagrams or claims about neurological mechanisms. No book covers, scanned pages, or archival illustrations have been reproduced.

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