Psychopathology and Psychophysiology of Minimal LSD-25 Dosage
A M A Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry – February 01, 1958
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) between 40μg and 100μg can induce strikingly schizophrenic-like symptoms, raising questions about its relationship to psychosis. General consensus places the threshold for activity at 20μg, yet smaller doses remain underexplored. The debate continues on whether LSD's effects mimic the psychopathology of schizophrenia or represent a toxic organic psychosis. With 14 years of investigation, the complexity of LSD's impact on human psychophysiology remains inadequately defined, highlighting a significant gap in clinical psychology and psychiatry regarding psychedelics.
Abstract
Despite 14 years of investigation, as intensive as accorded any biologically active chemical, a gap remains in the systematic description of human response to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25). The dramatic schizophrenic-like symptoms after doses of 40μg to 100μg have drawn the main interest. The threshold for activity is placed at 20μg by general consensus, while perfunctory administration of smaller doses has left their effect uncertain. Accompanying those pharmacologic demonstrations has been the controversy whether LSD symptoms simulate the psychopathology of schizophrenia1or can be better explained as a toxic organic psychosis.2One of these alternatives might be favored by its resemblance to the complete dosage-response relationship of LSD. It is unfortunate for analogical comparison that early stages of toxic psychosis have rarely been described in a psychopathological framework3; on the other hand, there is a firm basis for comparison with various schizophrenic processes. This preliminary note reports