Hanscarl Leuner (born 1919 in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...

; died 1996 in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

) was a German psychiatrist. His father was a leatherware factory owner. His study of medicine at

Frankfurt University Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

and

Marburg University The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

(1939–1946) was interrupted by his military service in World War II. He was a pioneer in using

psychoactive drug A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. ...

s for therapy in Germany. He invented the so-called Psycholytic Therapy (German: Psycholytische Therapie) which is a combination of psychodynamic psychotherapy with some light use of hallucinogens to enhance access to preconscious contents. After the general prohibition of hallucinogens in most countries he developed

Guided Affective Imagery Guided imagery (also known as guided affective imagery, or katathym-imaginative psychotherapy (KIP)) is a mind-body intervention by which a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images that si ...

(also known as: KIP, Katathym-imaginative Psychotherapy, Katathym-Psychotherapy, guided mental imagery, catathymic influences).

Readings (selection)

* ''Die experimentelle Psychose. Ihre Psychopharmakologie, Phänomenologie und Dynamik in Beziehung zur Person.'' Springer, Berlin 1962 1962, . Reprint 1997: Berlin VWB. * ''Katathymes Bilderleben: Unterstufe. Einführung in die Psychotherapie mit der Tagtraumtechnik. Ein Seminar.'' Thieme, Stuttgart 1970; 5. Auflage: ''Katathym-imaginative Psychotherapie (K.I.P.): „Katathymes Bilderleben“. Einführung in die Psychotherapie mit der Tagtraumtechnik. Ein Seminar.'' Thieme, Stuttgart 1994. * ''Halluzinogene: Psychische Grenzzustände in Forschung und Psychotherapie.'' Huber, Bern 1981, . * ''Lehrbuch des Katathymen Bilderlebens.'' Huber, Bern 1985; 3. Auflage: ''Lehrbuch der Katathym-imaginativen Psychotherapie.'' Huber, Bern 1994, . * ''Ce qu’on n’a pas expliqué en France'', Planète, n°33, mars-avril 1967, pp. 92–101 (article on LSD treatment and psycholyse)

External links

Erowid Character Vaults - Hanscarl Leuner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leuner, Hanscarl 1919 births 1996 deaths People from Bautzen German psychiatrists 20th-century German physicians