Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was first synthesized in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, and its psychoactive effects were accidentally discovered by him in 1943. It was then used during the 1950s and 1960s as an experimental drug in psychiatric research for producing so-called “experimental psychosis.” From the mid 1960s, was used widely in the Western counterculture movement for recreational and spiritual purposes. LSD was relatively successful in a clinical setting for psychotherapy and marketed as a medication for various uses (tradename Delysid) in the late 1940s. Possession was made illegal worldwide in the late 1960s, with limited psychotherapeutic use in Switzerland and Germany that continued on into the 1990s.^[1] In the past decade there has been a rapid reemergence and interest in the use of LSD and other hallucinogens/stimulants (MDMA) in the treatment of various mental disorders, including depression and PTSD.^[2]

Research has shown that the “set and setting” is particularly important in the hallucinogenic experience.^[3]

Magnetoencephalography has shown that psychoactive doses of LSD and other hallucinogens produce increased spontaneous activity that is beyond that of the standard wakeful state.^[4] This has interesting implications on the study on consciousness itself.

There have been case reports of persistent hallucinations that recur long after hallucinogenic use.^[5][6]

Users may temporarily experience a complete loss of subjective self-identity, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “ego loss” or “ego death.“^[7][8]