James Fadiman (born May 27, 1939) is an American writer known for his research on microdosing psychedelics. He co-founded the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, which later became

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

Early years

Fadiman was born in New York City to a Jewish family and grew up in Bel Air. His father, William Fadiman, was a producer, story editor, and book reviewer in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, one of his credits being '' The Last Frontier''. His mother, Vera Racolin, was a socialite, former model, and philanthropist known for her charitable support of numerous causes, including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Rescue League, and the Boys & Girls Club. Both his paternal grandparents, Isadore and Grace Fadiman, and his maternal grandparents, Mandel and Natalie (Natasha) Racolin, were

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

immigrants who settled in New York City near the turn of the 20th century.

Education/research and psychedelic counterculture

Fadiman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1960 and a Master's degree and a doctorate (both in psychology) from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, the PhD in 1965. While in Paris in 1961, his friend and former Harvard undergraduate adviser

Ram Dass Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and writer. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been d ...

(then known as Richard Alpert) introduced him to

psilocybin Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...

. As a graduate student at Stanford, Fadiman was

Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American project developer and writer, best known as the co-founder and editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He has founded a number of organizations, including the WELL, the Global Business Networ ...

's LSD guide on Brand's first LSD trip in 1962, at

Myron Stolaroff Myron J. Stolaroff (August 20, 1920 – January 6, 2013) was an author and researcher who is best known for his studies involving psychedelic psychotherapy. He also conducted clinical studies that attempted to measure the effects of LSD, mescalin ...

's International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park, California. While living in Menlo Park, Fadiman and his wife were

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...

's Perry Lane neighbors and friends. In 1963, Fadiman worked at Stanford's

Augmentation Research Center SRI International's Augmentation Research Center (ARC) was founded in the 1960s by electrical engineer Douglas Engelbart to develop and experiment with new tools and techniques for collaboration and information processing. The main product to ...

, a division that did research on networked computing. He was also part of the team in the psychedelics in problem-solving experiment at the International Foundation for Advanced Study, which was abruptly halted in 1966. Fadiman is a proponent of microdosing and collects anecdotal reports from those who practice it.

Transpersonal psychology and personality theory

Fadiman and

Robert Frager Robert Frager is an American Social psychology, social psychologist responsible for establishing America's first educational institution dedicated to transpersonal psychology. Frager is known for founding the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, n ...

cofounded the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now known as

) in 1975. He was a lecturer in psychedelic studies there. Fadiman was a president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology. He was also a director at the Institute of Noetic Sciences from 1975 to 1977. In 1976, Fadiman and Frager published a textbook on personality theory, ''Personality and Personal Growth'', which was one of the first to incorporate Eastern theories of personality alongside Western approaches and the first of its kind to include chapters on women. ''Personality and Personal Growth'' has been republished in seven editions as of 2012.

Personal life

Fadiman is married to documentary filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman and is the father of arts educator Renee Fadiman and

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The university is a member of the State University System of Florida and has s ...

professor Maria Fadiman. His uncle was

Clifton Fadiman Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, and radio and television personality. He began his work in radio, and switched to television later in his career. Background Born in Brook ...

, and he is a cousin of

Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman (born August 7, 1953) is an American essayist and reporter. Her interests include literary journalism, essays, memoir, and autobiography. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for ...

. His brother, Jeffrey A. Fadiman, is a professor of international marketing at

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State Universit ...

and a language and area specialist of Eastern and Southern Africa, with published work on the Meru tribe of Mount Kenya. Fadiman is the first cousin once removed of child prodigy

William James Sidis William James Sidis (; April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944) was an American child prodigy whose exceptional abilities in mathematics and languages made him one of the most famous intellectual prodigies of the early 20th century. Born to Boris Sid ...

. Sidis was the son of Sarah Sidis (née Mandelbaum), who was the sister of Fadiman's paternal grandmother, Grace Fadiman (née Mandelbaum). He was also featured in the first episode of the 2022 Netflix documentary series '' How to Change Your Mind''.

Works

Books

* ''Transpersonal Education: A Curriculum for Feeling and Being'' (1976) Co-edited with Gay Hendricks.

Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was a major American publishing#Textbook_publishing, educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth cen ...

, * ''Motivation and Personality'' (with

and Abraham Harold Maslow) (1987) * ''Unlimit Your Life: Setting and Getting Goals'' (1989) * ''Essential Sufism'' (1998) Castle Books * ''The Other Side of Haight: A Novel'' (2004) * ''The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys Paperback'' (2011) * ''Personality and Personal Growth'' (7th Edition) (with Robert Frager) (2012) * ''Your Symphony of Selves:Discover and Understand More of Who We Are'' (2020) (co-authored with Jordan Gruber). * ''Microdosing for Health, Healing, and Enhanced Performance'' (co-authored with Jordan Gruber) (2025)

Workshops and talks

* Psychedelics and Buddhism, October 12, 2012,

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is an American nonprofit organization working to raise awareness and understanding of psychedelic substances. MAPS was founded in 1986 by Rick Doblin and is now based in San Jose, C ...

* Psychedelic Horizons Beyond Psychotherapy, Psychedelic Science 2013 Conference – April 2013,

Films

* Late 1960s documentary film, ''Drugs in Our Culture'' from the

Prelinger Archives The Prelinger Archives is a collection of films relating to U.S. cultural history, the evolution of the American landscape, everyday life, and social history. Originally based in New York City from 1982 through 2002, it is now based in San Franci ...

* 2009 documentary film, ''Inside LSD'' from

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

* 2013 documentary film, ''Science and Sacraments''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fadiman, James 1939 births Living people 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American Ashkenazi Jews American cognitive psychologists American male non-fiction writers American people of Russian-Jewish descent American psychedelic drug advocates American spiritual writers Harvard University alumni Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American scientists Health professionals from Los Angeles Writers from Los Angeles Psychedelic drug researchers Psychonautics researchers Stanford University alumni