Malpsychia, Modern Narcissism, and Timothy Leary

A new word in my vocabulary is "malpsychia" which, according to my spell checker, is not even a word. Googling the word leads me to the same conclusion even though the word is used in the title of a book that I found in a thrift store and am currently reading.

The book, written by Joyce Milton copywrite 2002 is titled The Road to Malpsychia: Humanistic Psychology and Our Discontents. It is listed on Amazon and the comments alone on Amazon seem to be worth reading.

My first impression is that the book wasn't well received by the infamous "them" who judge everything we encounter in life, but I am finding the book rather insightful. My impression is that the book focuses on the movement begun in the 1960's and embraced by the psychedelic movement, especially the LSD movement and the LSD guru Timothy Leary, a subject the author professes firsthand knowledge of.

Generally speaking, the book seems to focus on how these humanistic movements, despite their initial popularity and embrace by major educational circles, devolve into mayhem. What I find most fascinating, though, is that the book seems to study the very trend that I see happening in today's world, as if the craziness of today in things like critical race theory and transgenderism derive somehow from the LSD experience. They fit the category of the nonexistent word "malpsychia".

The book on Amazon:

The Road to Malpsychia: Humanistic Psychology and Our Discontents

Again, browse the comments.

A Timothy Leary speech spoken at UCLA in 1967, I believe only months after the Playboy Magazine article about him that I remember from my teenage years, might help remind you of who that guy was:

Timothy Leary speaking at UCLA 1/18/1967

Just before the three-minute mark, Leary appears to say he is about to drop acid. Whether or not that is true I leave to you, but if he in fact did, he should have reached peak during this speech. A typical acid trip lasts twelve hours.