{{short description|American psychologist and writer|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox person |name = James Fadiman |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|5|27}} |birth_place = New York City, US |occupation = Researcher, author, lecturer |spouse = Dorothy Fadiman |relatives = William Fadiman (father)<br>Vera Racolin (mother)<br>Anne Fadiman (first cousin)<br>Clifton Fadiman (uncle) <br> William James Sidis (first cousin once removed) }}
'''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.
==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,<ref name="william-fadiman-tcm">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/59155%7C155549/William-Fadiman#overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403115727/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/59155%7C155549/William-Fadiman/#overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 3, 2012|title=William Fadiman|access-date=May 6, 2022 | publisher=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref><ref name="william-fadiman-variety">{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/1999/scene/people-news/william-james-fadiman-1117883126/ | publisher=Variety | title= William James Fadiman | date=August 9, 1999 |last1=Pesselnick | first1=Jill | access-date=May 6, 2022}}</ref> and book reviewer in Hollywood,<ref name="ny-times-william-fadiman">{{cite web |title=William Fadiman, 90, Writer and Producer |date=August 7, 1999 |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/07/arts/william-fadiman-90-writer-and-producer.html|access-date=November 23, 2011}}</ref> one of his credits being ''The Last Frontier''.<ref name="william-fadiman-tcm" /><ref name="ny-times-william-fadiman" /><ref name="william-fadiman-variety" /> 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.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/palm-beach-daily-news-vera-louis-racol/51088197/ | title=Vera Louis (Racolin,Fadiman) Obit 2 | newspaper=Palm Beach Daily News | date=April 12, 1997 | page=2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/palm-beach-daily-news-vera-louis-racoli/51088269/ | title=Vera Louis (Racolin Fadimin) Obit1 | newspaper=Palm Beach Daily News | date=April 12, 1997 | page=1 }}</ref><ref name="williamjamesuclaarchive">{{cite web | url=https://static.library.ucla.edu/oralhistory/text/masters/21198-zz0008zqrq-4-master.html#:~:text=My%20two%20wives%20%5B-,Vera%20Racolin,-and%20Regina%20Kobacker | title=Interview of William Fadiman |publisher=UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research}}</ref> Both his paternal grandparents, Isadore and Grace Fadiman, and his maternal grandparents, Mandel and Natalie (Natasha) Racolin, were Russian Jewish immigrants who settled in New York City near the turn of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://static.library.ucla.edu/oralhistory/text/masters/21198-zz0008zqrq-4-master.html#:~:text=My%20parents%20were%20both%20from%20Russia | title=Interview of William Fadiman | publisher=UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://yivo.org/List-of-Fellowships | title=List of Fellowships - Professor Bernard Choseed Memorial Fellowship and the Natalie and Mendel Racolin Memorial Fellowship |publisher=YIVO}}</ref>
==Education/research and psychedelic counterculture== Fadiman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1960 and a master's degree and a doctorate (both in psychology) from Stanford University, the PhD in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=March 10, 2022 | url=https://likewise.com/Books/LFQgAQAAIAAJ | title=Behavior Change Following Psychedelic (LSD) Therapy | publisher=Likewise}}</ref> While in Paris in 1961, his friend and former Harvard undergraduate adviser Ram Dass (then known as Richard Alpert) introduced him to psilocybin.<ref name="tim-doody" >{{Cite news| last1=Doody|first1=Tim |date=July 27, 2012 |title=The Heretic |work=The Morning News |publisher=The Morning News |url=https://themorningnews.org/article/the-heretic |access-date=August 20, 2012}}</ref><ref name="yale-daily-news">{{cite news | url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/11/09/jim-fadiman-researcher-in-the-sky-with-diamonds/ |last=Fadiman |first=Anne | title=Jim Fadiman: Researcher in the Sky with Diamonds | date=November 9, 2012 | newspaper=Yale Daily News }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cmcforum.com/2013/news/10102013-james-fadiman-psychedelic-research-and-applications?rq=fadiman |last=Kohli |first=Manav |title=James Fadiman: Psychedelic Research and Applications |date=October 10, 2013 |publisher=The Forum |access-date=November 5, 2022 |archive-date=November 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105200426/https://cmcforum.com/2013/news/10102013-james-fadiman-psychedelic-research-and-applications?rq=fadiman |url-status=dead }}</ref>
As a graduate student at Stanford, Fadiman was Stewart Brand's LSD guide on Brand's first LSD trip in 1962, at Myron Stolaroff's International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park, California.<ref name="tim-doody"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6199s310/?query=stewart%20brand | work=Online Archive of California - California Digital Library | title=Brand (Stewart) papers at Stanford University Special Collections & University Archives | accessdate=November 5, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="bernstein2008">{{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=David|title=The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde |chapter=Stewart Brand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uSNYnr3VWIC|access-date=July 5, 2017|date=August 8, 2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520256170|pages=239–251}}</ref><ref name="turner2008">{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Fred|title=From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SNFpgX_WigC|access-date=July 5, 2017|date=August 15, 2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226817422|page=61}}</ref> While living in Menlo Park, Fadiman and his wife were Ken Kesey's Perry Lane neighbors and friends.<ref name="bernstein2008"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Kesey-s-friends-gather-in-tribute-2844425.php | last=Robins | first=Cynthia |title=Kesey's Friends Gather in Tribute | date=December 7, 2001 | publisher=SF Gate| access-date=July 5, 2017}}</ref><ref name="electric-kool-aid-acid-test">{{cite book|title=The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test|page=5|title-link=The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test}}</ref>
In 1963, Fadiman worked at Stanford's Augmentation Research Center, a division that did research on networked computing.<ref name="turner2008" /> 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.<ref name="tim-doody" /><ref name=harman1970>{{cite book | chapter-url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/harman.htm |last1=Harman |first1=Willis W.|last2=Fadiman |first2=James |title=Psychedelics: The Uses and Implications of Hallucinogenic Drugs | chapter=Selective Enhancement of Specific Capacities Through Psychedelic Training | date=1970 |publisher=Doubleday & Company |isbn=978-0385087742 }}</ref>
Fadiman is a proponent of microdosing<ref>{{cite web | url=https://behavioralscientist.org/the-mythology-of-microdosing-continues-to-grow-can-science-catch-up/#:~:text=Fadiman%20has%20collected%20thousands%20of,such%20as%20diet%2C%20exercise%2C%20and|last=Barnett |first=Michaela |title=The Mythology of Microdosing Continues to Grow. Can Science Catch Up?|date=September 9, 2019 | publisher=Behavioral Scientist }}</ref> and collects anecdotal reports from those who practice it.
==Transpersonal psychology and personality theory== Fadiman and Robert Frager cofounded the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now known as Sofia University) in 1975.<ref name="To the Best of Our Knowledge Radio">{{cite web | url=http://archive.ttbook.org/james-fadiman | title=Jim Fadiman on Psychedelics | date=May 26, 2013 | access-date=November 5, 2022 | publisher=To the Best of Our Knowledge | archive-date=November 5, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105200432/http://archive.ttbook.org/james-fadiman | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="brown2015">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=David Jay|title=Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness: Conversations with Albert Hofmann, Stanislav Grof, Rick Strassman, Jeremy Narby, Simon Posford, and Others) |chapter=Creativity, Problem Solving, and Psychedelics: An Interview with James Fadiman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uSNYnr3VWIC|access-date=July 5, 2017|date=October 24, 2015|publisher=Park Street Press |isbn=9781620553923|pages=44–57}}</ref> He was a lecturer in psychedelic studies there.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gulker |first=Linda Hubbard | url=http://inmenlo.com/2011/05/05/james-fadiman-talking-and-writing-about-psychedelics/ | date=May 5, 2011 | title=James Fadiman: Talking and writing about psychedelics | publisher=InMenlo |location=Menlo Park, California}}</ref><ref name="brown2015" />
Fadiman was a president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.atpweb.org/staff.aspx | publisher=Association for Transpersonal Psychology | title=Board of Directors | access-date=December 20, 2013}}</ref> He was also a director at the Institute of Noetic Sciences from 1975 to 1977.<ref name="brown2015" />
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.<ref name="brown2015" /><ref name="Taylor2009">{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Eugene|title=The Mystery of Personality: A History of Psychodynamic Theories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4us43Ee7VIC&pg=PA298|access-date=December 20, 2013|date=July 7, 2009|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780387981048|pages=298–}}</ref> ''Personality and Personal Growth'' has been republished in seven editions as of 2012.<ref name="Taylor2009"/>
==Personal life== Fadiman is married to documentary filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman<ref name="electric-kool-aid-acid-test" /><ref name="To the Best of Our Knowledge Radio" /> and is the father of arts educator Renee Fadiman<ref>https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneefadiman {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> and Florida Atlantic University professor Maria Fadiman.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hubbard |first=Linda |title=Maria Fadiman returns to her roots with a story telling performance |url=https://inmenlo.com/2019/07/18/maria-fadiman-returns-to-her-roots-with-a-story-telling-performance/ | date=18 July 2018 | access-date=22 March 2025 |website=InMenlo |language=en-US}}</ref> His uncle was Clifton Fadiman,<ref name="ny-times-william-fadiman" /><ref name="electric-kool-aid-acid-test" /> and he is a cousin of Anne Fadiman.<ref name="ny-times-william-fadiman" /> His brother, Jeffrey A. Fadiman, is a professor of international marketing at San José State University and a language and area specialist of Eastern and Southern Africa, with published work on the Meru tribe of Mount Kenya.<ref>https://www.sjsu.edu/people/jeffrey.fadiman/docs/BUS%20133A_Syllabus_Spring2016.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/299159933/?clipping_id=51088197&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjI5OTE1OTkzMywiaWF0IjoxNjkzODY4MjE3LCJleHAiOjE2OTM5NTQ2MTd9.Ce5CWQvpVLQ9TIUGzyv_zUkIyJkL_45nQSqN2MtRksU | title=Palm Beach Daily News 12 Apr 1997, page 2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sjsu.edu/people/jeffrey.fadiman/ | title=Jeffrey a Fadiman | People | San Jose State University }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://myafricanmagazine.com/how-a-24-year-old-white-american-discovered-timbuktu-in-1960/ | title=How a 24-year-old White American discovered Timbuktu in 1960 | date=May 7, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hmbreview.com/community/coastsider-becomes-an-honored-elder/article_7d3afeee-fff0-11e0-8601-001cc4c03286.html | title=Coastsider becomes an honored elder | date=October 26, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=UC%20Berkeley::Bancroft%20Library;titlesAZ=J;idT=991047300179706532 | title=Jeffrey Fadiman field notes based on oral interviews with Meru tribal elders : collected in Kenya, 1960s and 1970s.| publisher=California Digital Library | accessdate=March 17, 2025}}</ref><ref name="ny-times-william-fadiman" />
Fadiman is the first cousin once removed of child prodigy William James Sidis. Sidis was the son of Sarah Sidis (née Mandelbaum), who was the sister of Fadiman's paternal grandmother, Grace Fadiman (née Mandelbaum).<ref name="williamjamesuclaarchive" />
He was also featured in the first episode of the 2022 Netflix documentary series ''How to Change Your Mind''.{{cn|date=May 2026}}
==Works== ===Books=== * ''Transpersonal Education: A Curriculum for Feeling and Being'' (1976) Co-edited with Gay Hendricks. Prentice Hall, {{ISBN|0-1393-0461-4}} * ''Motivation and Personality'' (with Robert Frager and Abraham Harold Maslow) (1987) {{ISBN|0-06-041987-3}} * ''Unlimit Your Life: Setting and Getting Goals'' (1989) {{ISBN|0-890-87562-6}} * ''Essential Sufism'' (1998) Castle Books {{ISBN|978-0785809067}} * ''The Other Side of Haight: A Novel'' (2004) {{ISBN|0-890-87984-2}} * ''The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys Paperback'' (2011) {{ISBN|978-1594774027}} * ''Personality and Personal Growth'' (7th Edition) (with Robert Frager) (2012) {{ISBN|0-13-144451-4}} * ''Your Symphony of Selves:Discover and Understand More of Who We Are'' (2020) (co-authored with Jordan Gruber). {{ISBN|9781644110263}} * ''Microdosing for Health, Healing, and Enhanced Performance'' (co-authored with Jordan Gruber) (2025) {{ISBN|9781250355584}}
===Workshops and talks=== * Psychedelics and Buddhism,<ref>{{cite web | title=Buddhism and Psychedelics: A Community Discussion with Kokyo Henkel and James Fadiman (Video) | access-date=June 4, 2021 | publisher=Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies | url=https://maps.org/news/multimedia-library/3368-buddhism-and-psychedelics |date= October 20, 2012}}</ref> October 12, 2012, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies * Psychedelic Horizons Beyond Psychotherapy,<ref>{{cite web | title=Psychedelic Horizons Beyond Psychotherapy Workshop – Part 1/4 | access-date=June 4, 2021 | publisher=Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwAL8O76ICI}}</ref> Psychedelic Science 2013 Conference – April 2013, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
===Films=== * Late 1960s documentary film, ''Drugs in Our Culture'' from the Prelinger Archives<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/0869_Drugs_in_Our_Culture_07_28_34_00 | title=Drugs in Our Culture | access-date=December 20, 2013 | publisher=Prelinger Archives}}</ref> * 2009 documentary film, ''Inside LSD'' from National Geographic<ref>{{cite web | title=Inside LSD (Full Length Documentary) | date=November 8, 2012 | access-date=December 20, 2013 | publisher=National Geographic Channel | url=http://scienceandsacraments.com/science-and-sacraments-clips/}}</ref> * 2013 documentary film, ''Science and Sacraments''<ref>{{cite web | title=Science and Sacraments: Clips of the Cast | date=November 8, 2012 | access-date=January 11, 2014 | publisher=Coleen LeDrew Elgin, Elgin Productions | url=http://scienceandsacraments.com/science-and-sacraments-clips/}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.jamesfadiman.com/}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fadiman, James}} Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:American Ashkenazi Jews Category:American cognitive psychologists Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American psychedelic drug advocates Category:American spiritual writers Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers Category:Jewish American scientists Category:Health professionals from Los Angeles Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:Psychedelic drug researchers Category:Psychonautics researchers Category:Stanford University alumni