Highlighting the legacy of a psychedelic harm reduction pioneer: Assessing contemporary agreement with advice in Lisa Bieberman’s 1967 “Session Games” manual

Lisa Bieberman was a pioneer of psychedelic harm reduction education. She established the Psychedelic Information Center in Cambridge, MA and published a nationwide newsletter on LSD. In February 1967, she published Session Games People Play: A Manual for the Use of LSD , which recommended best practices for psychedelic use. We conducted an online survey of individuals who reported psychedelic use ( N = 581) to assess contemporary agreement with the advice Bieberman provided over half a century earlier. Most participants reported having a role requiring psychedelic expertise (54.7%; e.g., Guide/Sitter, Therapist, Indigenous facilitator) and most (86.4%) had taken psychedelics in the past year. We found general agreement with most of the specific advice (18/19 items), with minor variation. There was consensus on statements such as “Be with people who all know, like, and trust each other,” and “Recognize that the experience will eventually end.” “Clear your mind of negative emotions” and “Do not go out in public” received moderate support. Participants neither uniformly agreed nor disagreed on “Avoid looking in the mirror.” Given the high and growing interest in psychedelics, it is critical to provide harm reduction guidance to individuals contemplating psychedelic use outside of regulated environments. The current project recognizes and validates the advice in underground literature from a previous psychedelic era.