THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF LSD

Abstract

Twenty psychiatric patients treated with a single large dose of LSD [lysergic acid diethylamide] were studied to determine degree of improvement in symptoms and problem behavior 6 months and 1 year after treatment. Clinical change in the LSD-treated group was compared with that in a patient group matched for age, sex, education, marital status, psychiatric diagnosis and clinical manifestations. The LSD group was divided into 2 groups: those displaying an immediate insightful response to LSD (responders) and those failing to do so (nonresponders). The responder group was found to consist mainly of patients with diagnoses of psychopathic personality and all were at least 22 years old. Patients treated with LSD showed greater improvement than those in whom LSD was not used, even though 2/3 of the non-LSD group received systematic psychotherapy compared to only 1/6 of the LSD group. The LSD responders showed significantly more improvement than the LSD nonresponders. The responder group showed a tendency to relapse after six months, whereas the nonresponder group showed progressive improvement between 6 and 12 months. Patients with specific conduct disorders, who otherwise have reasonably well developed personality assets, are probably the most favorable candidates for LSD therapy. Although the probability of relapse is high after 6 months, successful retreatment was demonstrated. Several possible shortcomings of the study, including the small number of cases, invite caution in interpretation of results, but they clearly encourage further study of the use of LSD in treatment.