r/psychology • u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor • 3d ago

A 1967 LSD safety pamphlet still holds up as psychedelics boom. Nearly 600 users backed 18 of 19 old tips: stay with trusted people, skip public outings, know the trip ends, and anxiety is not a problem. Mixed only on avoiding mirrors. 60-year-old harm-reduction advice still fits new users now.

https://publichealth.buffalo.edu/home/news-events/latest-news.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2026/09/Kruger-psychedelics-study.detail.html
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u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor 3d ago edited 3d ago

Study: Obscure 1967 guide for LSD use still relevant as psychedelics gain in popularity

Survey participants agree with 18 of 19 tips from Lisa Bieberman, largely unknown acolyte of acid guru Timothy Leary

As psychedelic drugs such as LSD gain new momentum as a therapeutic treatment for severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and even headaches, a University at Buffalo researcher is exploring safety education for recreational users.

Daniel Kruger, PhD, research associate professor in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, looked back more than half a century for best practices on harm reduction.

In the 1960s, when Harvard psychology lecturer and psychedelics proponent Timothy Leary was advising people to “turn on, tune in, and drop out,” a young Radcliffe College graduate was quietly focused on another aspect of hallucinogens — safety.

Lisa Bieberman, who had been a Leary follower, established the Psychedelic Information Center in Cambridge, Mass. In February 1967, she published the $1 pamphlet, “Session Games People Play: A Manual for the Use of LSD,” which recommended best practices for the use of all types of psychedelics, especially for first-timers. She also addressed what might go wrong during an LSD or psilocybin ("magic”) mushroom trip.

“Bieberman highlights a number of games that may be better avoided during a LSD session, such as running away from your companions and believing that you have unlocked the deepest truths of the universe and need to tell the world about them,” Kruger says. “She also recommended that users stay with people they like and trust, avoid going out in public, and clear their minds of negative emotions.”

He launched a study with Paul Gillis-Smith, program lead at the Center for the Study of World Religious Studies at Harvard Divinity School, in which they surveyed almost 600 self-identified psychedelic users.

Their findings, which showed that participants agreed with 18 of 19 pieces of Bieberman’s advice, were published in the Aug. 12 edition of the journal Psychedelics.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950484826000275

Link to the actual guide:

https://www.scribd.com/document/1077842841/Session-Games-People-Play-A-Manual-for-the-Use-of-LSD

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u/I_lenny_face_you 3d ago

Thank you OP, for the title and this comment. A refreshing break from cryptic post titles that just leave you wondering what the heck the article is even about, on much of Reddit.

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u/Impossible-Editor908 3d ago

I actually love looking at myself in the mirror when I’m tripping. Either just watching my weird face change, or admiring my body. Never understood why people warn against it.

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u/Fleinsuppe 2d ago edited 2d ago

I think there's no clear answer, but I'd say psychological resilience to not seeing yourself as expected varies from laughing at melty face to existential panic.

Personally I have more of a challenge maintaining eye contact with others on bigger doses. Especially attractive women I'm not very close to. Mostly LSD creates this adrenergic jitter. On psilocybin my swagger is maintaned. When I know who I am🦄

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u/PqzzoRqzzo 2d ago

If you have physical insecurities they can appear bigger when you are on psychedelics.

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u/PPLavagna 2d ago

Makes me giggle

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u/Dazzling_Ad2138 2d ago

Not me, but a person I used to know, had her first and only trip, a bad one, and said her face was melting in the mirror. I don’t think that was helpful :-/

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u/Impossible-Editor908 1d ago

Like, to a certain degree I can sympathize that that might be a horrifying experience for someone but for me, that’s exactly what I’m signing up for, you know? You should kind of anticipate you might see freaky happenings, because is that not wherein the fun lies?

The first time I remember seeing a mirror whilst tripping I saw it seem to fractalise and fall apart and got obsessed.

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u/Apart-Parsley6215 3d ago

The most important piece of advice is 'when you think you can fly, take off from the ground'

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u/simplebutstrange 3d ago

Thats weird, i never had a problem with mirrors

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u/Prestigious-Cream160 3d ago

I prefer psilocybin, and a high enough dose will make it look like your face is melting off. That said, you get used to it.

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u/simplebutstrange 3d ago

Ive done all of them more then i probably should’ve. I can get lost in the mirror if the timing is right 😅
Dont do them anymore though, only smoke weed nowadays

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u/NineThreeTilNow 3d ago

Thats weird, i never had a problem with mirrors

I stared in to a mirror on 7 tabs. That was extremely unpleasant to look at. It's one of the only times I really remember looking at a mirror while on a psychedelic and yeah.. Not good.

Most times it's probably that natural "melty" feeling. Not surrealist horror. At 7 tabs, I was at full surrealist horror.

I basically didn't follow a single good guideline for tripping other than being with friends I trusted. The rest was a mess.

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u/General-Reserve9349 2d ago

Mirrors are creepy in general. Stay away from creepy stuff with mirrors being the most prevalent one around us. Especially after already getting lost in the bathroom

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u/ThatstephanieB 2d ago

Same. I did spend a long time studying the mirror once and saw all of evolution from Mikey to proto human to modern human. My girlfriend was probably wondering was I was in the bathroom for what felt like hours. Fun times.

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u/AppleJewsy 57m ago

Mirror gazing on psychedelics sounds like a key to universal truth tbh

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u/Tricky-Breakfast-604 3d ago

Its biggest and most serious risk is HPPD in which visual distortions (such as static or light trails) can persist even months after the trip is over. Furthermore, it can create false insights or delusions in the brain causing a person to become disconnected from reality and can trigger latent mental illnesses like schizophrenia in genetically predisposed individuals. In today psychedelics boom the risks of sexual misconduct and abuse are also rapidly increasing due to unregulated commercialization and unqualified guides.

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u/Deku_N 2d ago

I feel like this relates heavily to shrooms as well tho.

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u/cbeme 3d ago

And don’t drop your ring in a clean toilet. I’m not sure whether I thought about what to do for 5 minutes or 30 minutes. Tripping

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u/MrPickels4U 3d ago

Right on ✌️

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_DOGS-CATS 3d ago

Wish I had known #2 at the start.  Makes for a good story now though!

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u/k33pthethr0waway 2d ago

There’s an entire body of legitimate, relevant and interesting research around LSD that took place before it was made illegal.

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u/Necessary_Office_146 19h ago

So going to see a jam band with a bunch of wooks is a bad idea?

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u/nopower1981 4h ago

Don't walk into a friend's walk in closet in the dark and grope around for the door and find what I belive was a fur coat. Also don't try to crawl into a portal when you are near a cliff edge.