Mind Body Health & Politics

Discover how scientific self-experimentation went from heroic standard practice to career-ending stigma—and what we lost about consciousness research in the process.Why 19th-century scientists routinely self-experimented with psychoactive substancesHow the 1962 FDA amendments changed scientific culture foreverThe underground networks continuing psychedelic research outside institutionsWhat the MDMA therapy rejection reveals about modern scientific politicsLinks & Resources:"Psychonauts" by Mike Jay"Free Radicals: How a Group of Romantic Experimenters Gave Birth to Psychedelic Science"Full interview available on Mind Body Health & Politics podcastImperial College London psychedelic researchNative American Church peyote ceremoniesTimestamped Chapters: (00:00) - Introduction: The Scholar's Privilege (02:00) - When Self-Experimentation Was Standard Practice(05:00) - Humphrey Davy and the Birth of Psychedelic Science (11:00) - Freud, Cocaine, and Neurasthenia (15:00) - William James and the Stream of Consc