LSD Reduces Anxiety, Comorbid Symptoms in Study

LSD-assisted therapy was found to produce long-lasting and notable reductions of anxiety and comorbid symptoms of depression for up to 16 weeks in a study conducted by Swiss researchers.

Findings were published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Study co-author Matthias Liechti, professor of clinical pharmacology at University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, told PsyPost that patients’ responses to the treatment were “surprisingly sustained.”

“Primarily, we wanted to confirm a pilot study on the effects of LSD in patients with anxiety and life-threatening illness," Liechti told PsyPost. "Secondly, we also wanted to explore therapeutic benefits in patients with an anxiety disorder such as general anxiety disorder and without the somatic illness.

“Furthermore, we wanted to use LSD instead of psilocybin, which is more commonly used in modern psychedelic research, to broaden the field.”

For the study, LSD was administered to 2 patient groups: 20 participants diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and 22 diagnosed with a mental disorder. Enrollment began in June 2017, and the trial ended with its final patient visit in December 2021.

Patients were assigned to either a group that received LSD or a group that received a placebo. The study involved a screening and a pair of 24-week treatment periods, each of which consisted of 2 treatment sessions and 5 study visits. The study visits included talking psychotherapy, followed by an assessment of adverse events and changes in general medications.

LSD treatment resulted in significant reductions in Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory—Global (STAI-G) scores up to 16 weeks after treatment, with similar effects observed for ratings of comorbid depression.

“Positive acute subjective drug effects and mystical-type experiences correlated with the long-term reductions in anxiety symptoms,” the researchers wrote in their findings.

One patient in the study experienced a treatment-related serious adverse event—acute transient anxiety.

References

Holze F, Gasser P, Muller F, et al. Lysergic acid diethylamide-assisted therapy in patients with anxiety with and without a life-threatening illness A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II study. Biol Psychiatry. 2022. doi.org/10.1016/j.bi

Dolan EW. LSD-assisted therapy induces rapid and lasting reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms, according to new research. PsyPost. Published online: September 8, 2022.