LSD Study Breaks 40 Years of Research Taboo
SANTA CRUZ, CALIF. – Today, the results of the first study of the therapeutic use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in humans in over 40 years were published online in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
Sponsored by the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study in 12 subjects found statistically significant reductions in anxiety following two LSD-assisted psychotherapy sessions. The results also indicate that LSD-assisted psychotherapy can be safely administered in these subjects, and justify further research.
“The study was a success in the sense that we did not have any noteworthy adverse effects,” reports Principal Investigator Peter Gasser, M.D., a private practice psychiatrist in Solothurn, Switzerland. “All participants reported a personal benefit from the treatment, and the effects were stable over time.”
There is considerable previous human experience using LSD in the context of psychotherapy. From the 1950s through the early 1970s, psychiatrists, therapists, and researchers administered LSD to thousands of people as a treatment for alcoholism, as well as for anxiety and depression in people with advanced stage cancer.
“My LSD experience brought back some lost emotions and ability to trust, lots of psychological insights, and a timeless moment when the universe didn’t seem like a trap, but like a revelation of utter beauty,” says Peter, an Austrian subject who participated in the study.
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http://www.maps.org/media/view/press_release_lsd_study_breaks_40_years_of_research_taboo/
