LSD is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD is also commonly known as “acid.” LSD has enjoyed a resurgence in interest as a potential treatment for mood disorders, pain, and addiction. LSD is a psychoactive chemical that is sometimes used as an illicit drug to induce hallucinations.

Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman first synthesized LSD in 1938. He was working with ergot, a fungus that grows on certain grains, and didn’t discover the LSD’s psychoactive effects until he (accidentally) ingested a dose in 1943.

Therapeutic Uses of LSD

LSD appears to work by modulating serotonin, glutamate, and dopamine receptors in the brain. It is also thought that LSD could increase connectivity between brain regions.

Low doses of LSD have been used as a non-traditional treatment in psychiatry for many years. Recently, supervised administration of LSD in a therapeutic setting has shown promise for treating depression, addiction, and anxiety. In addition, a recent review of the literature found therapeutic LSD to be a notable treatment for alcoholism.

According to research, classical hallucinogens like LSD exhibit low toxicity. They also tend to show little evidence of neuropsychological or organic damage.

 

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482407/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30471683/

https://smw.ch/article/doi/smw.2019.20124

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5603820/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6985449/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00943/full