William A. Richards (Bill) is a psychologist in the Psychiatry Department of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Bayview Medical Center, where he and his colleagues have been conducting research with psilocybin for the past 19 years.

His graduate degrees include M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, S.T.M. from Andover-Newton Theological School and  Ph.D. from Catholic University, as well as studies with Abraham Maslow at Brandeis University and with Hanscarl Leuner at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, where his involvement with psychedelic research originated in 1963.

From 1967 to 1977, he pursued psychotherapy research with LSD, DPT, MDA and  psilocybin at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, including protocols designed to investigate the promise of entheogens in the treatment of alcoholism, depression, narcotic addiction and the psychological distress associated with terminal cancer, and also their use in the training of religious and mental-health professionals.

From 1977-1981, he was a member of the psychology faculty of Antioch University in Maryland.  His publications began in 1966 with “Implications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism,” coauthored with Walter Pahnke.  His book, Sacred Knowledge:  Psychedelics and Religious Experiences  has recently been released by Columbia University Press.

• Bill has written and published a book Sacred Knowledge, https://www.amazon.com/William-A.-Richards/e/B01K7A2RO4/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
• For mental health providers, an interview he did with David Bullard for psychotherapy.net http://www.psychotherapy.net/interview/psychedelic-assisted-psychotherapy
• For those interested in the potential religious implications of psychedelic research, an article he published in Zygon magazine might be appropriate:
  • Richards, W.A. (2014) , Here and Now:  Discovering the Sacred with Entheogens, 2014, Zygon:  Journal of Religion and Science, 49, 3, 652-665.

An Interview with Bill Richards…