Oscar Janiger (February 8, 1918 – August 14, 2001) was an experimental psychiatrist and a University of California, Irvine, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, best known for his LSD research, which lasted from 1954 to 1962.
Early life
Janiger was born on February 8, 1918, in New York City, New York. Beat poet and author Allen Ginsberg was a cousin.
Frank Murdoch
A sub-study within Janiger's research focused specifically on artists and creativity. One patient of Janiger's, bipolar and alcoholic artist Frank Murdoch, was given a controlled, experimental dose of LSD for several months as an attempt to cure his late stage alcoholism (probably a less well-known purpose to his LSD experiments, but very common in the era). Janiger had Murdoch paint still lifes both on and off LSD, including a Kachina doll (that he reportedly had 70 other patients also paint).
The artists produced some 250 paintings and drawings after ingesting LSD. Historian Carl Hertel analyzed the art in 1971 and compared it to the artists' non-LSD work. Hertel found while the LSD art was neither superior nor inferior to the artists' other work, it was brighter, more abstract and non-representational, and tended to fill the entire canvas.
Two follow-up studies have been done. The first, done by Janiger around 1968, collected questionnaires from about 200 of the original participants. Much of this data remains unanalyzed and only a limited amount has been published.
A second follow-up study was conducted in 1999 by Rick Doblin, Jerome E. Beck, Kate Chapman and Maureen Alioto, 40 years after the original experimental LSD sessions. Taped interviews were completed by 45 of Janiger's original participants, as well as Janiger himself. The study concluded that the experiences were positive overall, but only 1/3 of the follow-up subjects reported long-term benefits from the LSD experiences.
Other
Also at the Irvine faculty, he studied the connection between hormones and premenstrual depression in women. Janiger was also involved with a group studying dolphins in their natural environment.
He was survived by sons Robert and David; sister, Estelle Rosten and a brother, Nat.