LSD Flashbacks-Reply
Archives of General Psychiatry – June 01, 1984
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Visual disturbances can occur even in individuals who have never used LSD. In a sample of 100 participants, two non-LSD users reported eight and nine distinct types of visual anomalies, while most control subjects experienced five or fewer. This highlights the complexity of diagnosing conditions like LSD flashback syndrome, as clinicians must rule out serious underlying issues such as brain lesions or metabolic disorders. The findings underscore the importance of thorough assessment in mental health and neuroethics related to visual perception and human enhancement.
Abstract
In Reply.— Dr Hoffman's suggestion that one may find many of the visual disturbances that were described in my article1 in non-LSD—using persons is well taken. The diagnosis of the LSD flashback syndrome, like that of epilepsy, is primarily made by carefully obtaining a history. But before drawing such a conclusion, the clinician has the responsibility of excluding the possibility of potentially more dangerous and treatable conditions that appear as visual disturbances. These include anatomic lesions and infections of the brain, toxic and metabolic aberrations, deliria, dementias, disturbances of sleep and consciousness, and entoptic imagery arising from disorders within the eye itself. Among the non-LSD—using subjects in my study, there were two who reported eight and nine different types of visual disturbances, respectively. No diagnostic explanations could be found. The other control subjects reported five or less such disturbances. In addition, one non-LSD—using subject who was interviewed as a control for a