Decreased mental time travel to the past correlates with default-mode network disintegration under lysergic acid diethylamide
Journal of Psychopharmacology January 1, 2016 Jana Speth, Clemens Speth, Mendel Kaelen et al. 119 citations
A single dose of LSD (75 μg) reduced how often people spontaneously thought about the past, while thoughts about the present or future remained unchanged. In a placebo-controlled crossover study with 20 healthy volunteers, fewer references to past mental spaces appeared in reports collected about 2.5 hours after intravenous administration. This reduction correlated with the drug's subjective intensity and with decreased resting-state functional connectivity within the default-mode network, a brain system involved in autobiographical memory and rumination. The findings suggest LSD may reduce past-focused thinking, which could be relevant for treating conditions like depression where excessive reflection on the past is common.