The Psychedelic Handbook: A Practical Guide to Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, and Ayahuasca (Guides to Psychedelics & More)

Learn everything you need to know about psychedelics with this ultimate guide packed with information on popular psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA, DMT and LSD—plus practical tips for microdosing and how to safely "trip"—from bestselling author Dr. Rick Strassman.

Entering the world of psychedelic drugs can be challenging, and many aren’t sure where to start. As research continues to expand and legalization looms on the horizon for psychedelics like psilocybin, you may need a guide to navigate what psychedelics are, how they work, and their potential benefits and risks.

The Psychedelic Handbook is a complete manual that is accessible to anyone with an interest in these “mind-manifesting” substances. Packed with information on psilocybin, LSD, DMT/ayahuasca, mescaline/peyote, ketamine, MDMA, ibogaine, 5-methoxy-DMT (“the toad”), and Salvia divinorum/salvinorin A, this book is your ultimate reference for understanding the science and history of psychedelics; discovering their potential to treat depression, PTSD, substance abuse, and other disorders, as well as to increase wellness, creativity, and meditation; learning how to safely trip and explaining what we know about microdosing; and recognizing and caring for negative reactions to psychedelics.

Clinical research psychiatrist, founding figure of the American psychedelic research renaissance, and best-selling author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Dr. Rick Strassman shares his experience and perspectives as neither advocate nor foe of psychedelics in order to help readers understand the effects of these remarkable drugs.

A native of Los Angeles, Rick Strassman obtained his undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Stanford University and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. He trained in general psychiatry at the UC Davis Medical Center and took a clinical psychopharmacology research fellowship at UC San Diego. At the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, his clinical research team discovered the first known function of melatonin in humans. Between 1990 and 1995, he performed the first new US clinical research with psychedelic drugs in a generation.

From 1995 to 2008, Strassman practiced general psychiatry in community mental health and the private sector. He has authored or coauthored nearly fifty peer-reviewed papers, served as guest editor and reviewer for numerous scientific journals, and consulted various government, nonprofit, and for-profit entities. His book DMT: The Spirit Molecule (2001) has been translated into fourteen languages and is the basis of a successful independent documentary of the same name. Strassman coauthored Inner Paths to Outer Space and is the author of the novel Joseph Levy Escapes Death. He is currently clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the UNM School of Medicine and lives in Gallup, New Mexico.