LSD: Universal Cognition in a Simple Molecule

    Throughout history, doctors across the world have performed research on new methods in order to treat and cure chronic illnesses. Research is a process of trial and error; some experiments achieve the initial goal, while others give unexpected results that can be helpful for research in a completely different area. Albert Hofmann was a Swiss chemist who happened to be in a similar predicament. While attempting to find a circulatory and respiratory stimulant that treated migraines without negatively affecting the uterus, he stumbled upon Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). After discovering that LSD was not the drug he was looking for in 1938, he set it aside for five years before re-examining it in 1943. LSD would later become synonymous with the hippie movement and would gain a bad stigma for being a “dangerous drug” that lead to a rebellion of sorts against society. Despite the public’s negative notion of LSD, the drug has significant psychological benefits for those suffering from addictions, anxieties, psychiatric disorders and schizophrenia. Patients experience a vast change on their perspective of reality through ego death, resulting in lowered anxiety, dependency, and an overall increase in mental health. LSD should be used as a form of psychotherapy for those who suffer from these disorders and be allowed for further research to help similar disorders.

    Albert Hofmann was a Swiss chemist who was working in the field of pharmaceuticals, particularly focusing on the fungus ergot and other possibly medicinal plants. He spent his time delving into the combination of lysergic acid and nikethamide. He was under the assumption that bringing these two together would create the analeptic drug that would help with migraines. However, once he began testing with the two groups, he realized that the end result was not what he expected, and decided to put it aside for further investigation at a later date (Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). In 1943, five years after the initial development of LSD, Hofmann decided to re-examine the drug he made in order to see if it possessed any beneficial medicinal properties. While experimenting with it, he accidentally came in contact with a small amount of the drug through his fingertips. Following his exposure, he began to notice some visual side effects, “Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror” (BBC News). Three days later on April 19th, 1943, Albert Hofmann decided to ingest 250 μg of LSD and take a bike ride home. This was the first intentional ingestion of LSD ever recorded. Following Albert’s ingestion of LSD or “trip”, he discussed his euphoric journey of realizing how beautiful the world is around us and that every little living organism has a purpose. He goes on to discuss the possibilities of therapeutic properties that LSD could possess, especially for those who suffer from depression or psychiatric disorders. However, he’s stated that, “It is very important that one is ‘prepared’ for the use of psychedelics. It is not just fun; it is a very serious experiment” (Hofmann’s Potion). The use of LSD is a very serious subject matter; while it may have been an accident that Hofmann came across, it is of the utmost importance that LSD be used solely for medicinal purposes. This strong belief of Albert lead to spreading the word of the possibilities that LSD has, which lead to the widespread production and use of LSD in psychotherapy across the world.

    Names such as Timothy Leary became staples internationally for the use of LSD in a therapeutic environment. Initially, it was believed that LSD would be useful for psychiatrists of schizophrenics as it would induce a psychotic episode that would help them better understand the daily hallucinations that their patients endured. It was later pointed out that LSD did quite the opposite, and psychiatrists began to use it on their patients to help relieve them of their horrific hallucinations. With this in mind, research began to use LSD to assist those who suffered from severe and lifelong addictions. Myron Stolaroff, an author and psychedelic psychotherapy specialist, explains the psychological effects during a therapy session for someone suffering from addiction.

In a good LSD experience you resolve your inner conflicts, and the loads and the barriers that have developed. You begin to reach down into the depth of your own being. You see more and more levels of being. More and more levels of understanding. Often we like to blame our feelings on other people. And what they are doing to us. But if I feel that it's my feeling and I've produced it, then I'm the only one who can resolve it. And fortunately, these substances allow you see and recognize this. And resolve it (Hofmann’s Potion).

 

The insight that LSD brought to these patients was praised by psychiatrists around the world, however this spike in research was short lived. Psychologists and psychiatrists were in high demand for LSD from the 1950’s to the 1960’s, leading to an increased production and distribution of the drug across the globe for research. Through this mass production, however, LSD began to slip away from the security of institutions into the public's hands. During this time, those labelled as “hippies” began to recreationally use LSD as a way of better discovering “one’s self”, leading to LSD becoming a street drug. This gave LSD a bad name, especially to the public who saw it as the addictive and dangerous fuel for the “hippie movement” in the 1960’s.

It’s ironic, seeing as how most psychedelics including LSD do not possess addictive properties. “LSD does not produce compulsive drug-seeking behavior. Addiction to hallucinogens is rare, although poly-drug addicts (people who are addicted to several drugs) frequently abuse hallucinogens as well” (Brown University). Despite being shown that it is not addictive, it was still in the shadow of the initial thought that the government placed into the minds of the public. In order to contain this movement, the government began to heavily restrict the production and research of LSD. This choke hold put a quick and significant stop to research of LSD in psychotherapy. Shortly thereafter, the government banned LSD and categorized it as an illegal and dangerous drug that should not be used recreationally or for medicinal purposes (Hofmann’s Potion).

    LSD is now sold to this day through the black market and fails to see the light of day in therapeutic research. The prohibition of most psychedelics has kept research for psychiatric disorders from advancing. Even though LSD has an abundance of positive research behind it, this stigma from the 1960’s has kept society in the dark on the beneficial properties that LSD has. Duncan Blewett, LSD researcher and psychologist, states that, “There are still people who are violently opposed to psychedelics. Very few of them have ever tried psychedelics; and 99% of the opposition to them comes from people who are completely ignorant of their effects” (Hofmann’s Potion). This veil of ignorance has been over the eyes of the public for decades. The irony of the situation is that LSD is one of the most researched drugs in existence, yet most of the public fail to see beyond what they have been lied to about for generations. There are thousands of studies that have concluded that LSD shows promise when used in a controlled environment to help those with anxieties, addictions, psychiatric disorders and so forth.

    Research was abundant in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and studies even to this day on LSD have shown positive results. In 1959, there was a study to examine if LSD had any medicinal properties when treating alcoholism. 40 alcoholic patients were given LSD two separate methods of administration and testing. Results showed LSD was able to allow the patients to find better self acceptance from within, giving positive results on their alcoholism. The study recorded quotes of the patient’s experiences with LSD in the psychotherapy sessions. Some quotes were,

“I had finally understood by experience the feeling of union with the cosmos", “"There seems to be two of me and there seems to be a conflict between these two”, “During this period I was swept by every conceivable variety of pleasant emotion from my own feeling of well-being through feelings of sublimity and grandeur to a sensation of ecstasy", “I was conscious of an extremely acute sense of awareness of perception of another's mood, almost thoughts. I likened it to the recognition of emotional atmosphere that the child or animal seem to have" (N. Chwelos, D. B. Blewett, C. M. Smith  and A. Hoffer., 1959).

 

The study concluded that patients noticed an overall uplift in mood and brighter outlook on life and made steps towards a brighter future. It also stated that further research is required to solidify the positive effects of LSD in addict patients. This is one of many studies that have taken place since it’s first synthesis 70 years ago. Another study in 2014 involved patients and the ingestion of LSD in order to help with anxiety from terminal illnesses. This study had similar results to the one from 1959, with patients feeling more content with who they were and showing decreased levels of anxiety with increased positivity in their situation. (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease)

    LSD is a complex drug that can have extreme psychological effects on a person’s mind. It is extremely potent and requires the utmost safety and precaution when used, especially in a controlled environment with a patient and his psychiatrist. LSD has shown time and time again of its positive psychological properties and how it can assist those who struggle daily with addiction, anxiety and psychiatric disorders. Research for LSD should be used and kept away from negative bias backed by ignorant opinions. Science does not have an opinion, it only has the truth. This truth can lead to better and safer treatments for people who desperately need it, such as war veterans who have the weight of the world on their shoulders through PTSD. Instead of using a pill with a plethora of negative side effects, he could be a patient in an experiment who uses LSD in one session to help alleviate him of those horrors he goes through everyday. With an open mind and strong safety, LSD can be a very useful drug in the world of psychotherapy.

 

Work Cited

Hofmann’s Potion. Dir. Connie Littlefield. Alive Mind, 2002. DVD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpSLjdPiSH8

 

Peter Gasser, MD, Dominique Holstein PhD, Yvonne Michel, PhD, Rick Doblin, PhD, Berra Yazar Klosinski, PhD, Torsten Passie, MD, MA, and Rudolf Brenneisen, PhD. “Safety and Efficacy of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety Associated With Life-threatening Diseases.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Volume 00. Issue 00 (2014): 1-8. Web.

 

Brown University. Brown.edu. Brown University Student Services. Web. January 29, 2015

 

Dr. Albert Hofmann. “LSD: Completely Personal.” Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Volume 6. Issue 3 (1996) Web.

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v06n3/06346hof.html

 

“LSD Inventor Albert Hofmann dies.” BBC News. BBC. (2008): Web. February 13 2015.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7374846.stm