Archives of General Psychiatry
May 1, 1963
Gerald D. Klee
60 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25), an ergot derivative, produces profound psychological effects in humans at minute doses. Since its discovery in 1947, it has been studied for chemical interactions in the body, with the unrealized hope of finding a chemical basis for mental illness, and has been valuable for studying central nervous system physiology. Some hail it as an effective adjunct for treating mental illness, though many studies are uncontrolled. Its greatest value has been as an experimental means of studying psychological functions.
Archives of General Psychiatry
June 1, 1967
Leonard S. Zegans
56 citations
Interest in creativity has grown among behavioral scientists, reflecting a long-standing popular fascination. Many authors have offered advice on acquiring creativity, debated whether neurosis is necessary for its use, and developed methods to assess creative potential. Dynamic psychiatry has been central to studying the creative personality, with early psychoanalytic writers emphasizing instinctual drives and neurotic conflicts as motivations for creative sublimation. By examining the lives of historical geniuses, researchers have shown how basic needs and fantasies become embedded in the content and structure of their work.
Archives of General Psychiatry
November 1, 1974
Charles M. Culver
53 citations
College seniors who used LSD or mescaline performed within normal limits but significantly worse on the Trail Making Test compared to marijuana/hashish users and non-users, even after accounting for differences in alcohol consumption. The three groups were matched on pre-drug intellectual and personality traits. The study was replicated one year later with consistent results. The authors caution that these findings do not indicate organic brain dysfunction but suggest that prospective neuropsychological testing could be valuable.
Archives of General Psychiatry
December 1, 1969
William H. Mcglothlin
51 citations
Two animal experiments show that large doses of LSD can cause long-lasting changes in brain function that persist well beyond the time the drug is normally eliminated from the body. Cats given a single dose of 80 µg/kg showed disrupted conditioned responses and brain wave changes lasting 20 days. Squirrel monkeys given daily doses of 10 to 40 µg/kg required four to six months after stopping the drug to regain their previous skill level on difficult visual size discrimination tasks. A replication using a larger sample and doses from 10 to 100 µg/kg found similar impairment lasting several weeks.
Archives of General Psychiatry
July 1, 1976
Harry T. Hunt
43 citations
The term "psychedelic" applied to altered states of consciousness suggests that such subjective anomalies arise from normal psychological functioning. Anomalous experience depends on sensitization to immediate subjective state, which is nonadaptive and cuts off intentionality at a primitive microgenetic level. This hypothesis was confirmed experimentally: groups given instructions for direct sensitization to immediate subjective state reported striking incidence of anomalous subjective reports after ten minutes of isolation and inactivity, compared with nonsensitization groups. Additionally, analysis of early introspectionist experimental protocols revealed subjective anomalies similar to those in drug and meditational states, supporting a psychedelic model of altered states.
Archives of General Psychiatry
May 1, 1962
Harriet B. Linton
41 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) produces a wide range of alterations in psychological functioning, including disturbances in ego functions, drive manifestations, and other psychopathology. These changes affect autonomic functioning, motor functioning, mood, conation, cognition, and sensorium, as well as thought, speech, affect, perception, and behavior. The alterations have been compared to disturbances seen in schizophrenic syndromes and conditions of altered consciousness such as sleep deprivation, hypnosis, and sensory isolation, sparking detailed exploration of the drug's effects.
Archives of General Psychiatry
November 1, 1966
Max Fink
40 citations
Prolonged adverse effects from lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) can last from one week to two years, with about 40% of cases persisting beyond that range. These effects include spontaneous recurrences of the acute LSD experience, persistent psychotic decompensations, depression leading to attempted and completed suicides, and multihabituation. While the experimental LSD experience in medical settings is usually transient—limited to a few hours or a day—the illicit use of the drug has raised concerns about an increasing incidence of persistent psychoses.
Archives of General Psychiatry
March 1, 1990
Charles Grob
34 citations
A letter to the editor critiques a study that attempted to assess serotonergic neurotransmitter damage in MDMA users by measuring serum prolactin response to an intravenous L-tryptophan challenge. The study found a blunted rise in prolactin levels among MDMA users, but this result was not statistically significant. The letter argues that even a significant result would not imply causation and highlights a methodological limitation: subjects were not adequately screened for use of other psychotropic drugs, and toxicology screens were not performed. Three subjects (33%) admitted to marijuana use, raising concerns about confounding factors.
Archives of General Psychiatry
February 1, 1977
Leroy C. Gould
34 citations
Multiple-drug use follows a progressive pattern, with users typically moving through a sequence starting with alcohol and marijuana, then hashish, barbiturates, amphetamines, LSD, mescaline, cocaine, and finally heroin. This finding comes from a 1972-1973 survey of 1,094 high school students in greater New Haven, Connecticut. Cigarettes and glue did not fit this sequence. The order in which students reported starting each drug only partly matched the progressive pattern identified by scalogram analysis.
Archives of General Psychiatry
May 1, 1967
John D. Hensala
33 citations
While most published studies of people who used LSD and later received psychiatric care focus on psychotic reactions, complications, and side-effects from the drug, this study instead aims to examine and define specific characteristics of hospitalized psychiatric patients who have a history of LSD use, and to compare these patients with a comparison group.
Archives of General Psychiatry
September 1, 1966
Stephen Szára
33 citations
A simple indole derivative, N,N-diethyltryptamine (DET), produces psychotogenic-like symptoms similar to LSD and mescaline. Its metabolism involves 6-hydroxylation, a pathway shared by other naturally occurring indoles like tryptamine, skatole, and melatonin. This raises the possibility that this enzyme system could be involved in spontaneously occurring psychoses. The study compared DET metabolism in ten chronic schizophrenic patients and ten normal volunteers after a 1 mg/kg intramuscular dose, aiming to correlate the rate of DET metabolism with its psychological effects in humans.
Archives of General Psychiatry
November 1, 1959
H. Aronson
32 citations
The subjective sense of time can be altered by external circumstances, but less is known about how a person's physical state affects time estimation, partly because conditions like fever or delirium make systematic data collection difficult. Experimentally induced physical states, such as those from nitrous oxide or mescaline, allow controlled testing of these effects. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) has a striking effect on the sense of time, as described in various reports.
Archives of General Psychiatry
January 1, 1960
Charles Hamilton
31 citations
In rats, injection of LSD-25 produces autonomic effects including profuse salivation, urination, and defecation. Within minutes, the animals show initial hyperactivity followed by leg flexion and abdomen touching the floor, sometimes remaining motionless for long periods if undisturbed. For rats trained to climb a rope for food, climbing times increased with higher doses, and at the drug's peak effect some rats did not climb at all.
Archives of General Psychiatry
January 1, 1971
Solomon H. Snyder
30 citations
DOET, a new psychotropic agent chemically related to mescaline and amphetamine, was given to normal male subjects in doses from 0.75 to 4 mg. It produced mild euphoria, enhanced self-awareness, and anxiety at higher doses, but no hallucinogenic or psychotomimetic effects occurred at any dose. The enhanced awareness from DOET was not linked to such actions across a five-fold active dose range.
Archives of General Psychiatry
April 1, 1966
E. Rodin�
30 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) reduces the amplitude of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals, causes alpha rhythms to disappear, and produces low-voltage fast or desynchronized tracings. Alpha frequencies increase by 0.5 to 4 cycles per second, with one report noting a rise from 11.6 cycles per second. These findings are based on surface and depth recordings in humans. The literature on LSD's behavioral and pathophysiological effects contains over 1,000 publications since its psychosomimetic properties were discovered in 1947.
Archives of General Psychiatry
July 1, 1974
Solomon H. Snyder
25 citations
The (-) "R" isomer of the psychedelic methoxyamphetamine DOET is about four times as potent as the (+) "S" isomer in normal human subjects. This finding specifies the psychoactive conformation of the drug and supports models predicting that the α-carbon of methoxyamphetamine psychedelics approximates the asymmetric carbon No. 5 of LSD. The clinical study offers a novel approach to determining the molecular conformation of a drug at its receptor site.
Archives of General Psychiatry
May 1, 1967
Malcolm B. Bowers
22 citations
The unsupervised use of major psychedelic substances such as LSD, peyote, psilocybin, and morning glory seeds has increased outside of therapy and research. Clinical studies have documented the hazards of this practice, but the phenomenon itself has been set aside while the scientific community gathers regulatory information. The use of these substances by individuals and groups raises interesting theoretical questions. The authors assume that unsupervised psychedelic use and its effects are complex phenomena with many personal and social determinants. Some individuals come to psychiatric attention as a direct result of their use.
Archives of General Psychiatry
July 1, 1959
Keith S. Ditman
21 citations
The authors aim to develop an objective method for studying the subjective aspects of experiences induced by hallucinogenic drugs, particularly lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25). They note the rapid development of new hallucinogenic compounds and their increasing use in treatment and psychodynamic investigations, along with varied and contradictory descriptions of their psychic effects—labeled as experimental schizophrenia, model psychosis, or toxic delirium. The authors' interest is not in LSD-25's therapeutic value or use in psychodynamic investigation, but in creating a method that does not interfere with the experience itself.
Archives of General Psychiatry
June 1, 1963
Donald M. Krus
15 citations
Chronic schizophrenics show less psychological response to a given dose of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) than normal adults. This difference is relevant to understanding the mechanism of action of LSD, which must account for such variation across psychological, physiological, and biochemical levels. The finding also clarifies similarities and differences between schizophrenics and normals, contributing to theoretical understanding of schizophrenia. Additionally, it addresses whether biochemical sluggishness is a general characteristic of schizophrenia. The existing literature on this relative responsivity remains controversial.
Archives of General Psychiatry
February 1, 1966
Mary Sarett
10 citations
Treatment of alcoholics with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) and similar psychedelic substances has been practiced for over a decade, yet controversy persists about its effectiveness. Reported outcomes range from no change to very encouraging, with immediate improvements in attitudes and behavior often disappearing over the long term. This paper aims to clarify differences between immediate and long-term changes in alcoholics following LSD-25 treatment and suggests ways to better consolidate early gains. Previous information on LSD treatment results has come from studies of the treated individuals themselves.
Archives of General Psychiatry
October 1, 1968
Charles Clay Dahlberg
9 citations
The history of LSD in medicine follows a typical pattern: initial speculation, exaggerated claims, and then controlled trials. This book is the first report on the latter category. LSD would be just another psychoactive drug if not for two factors: its adoption by young drug users for psychedelic effects, which has generated enormous publicity, and the fact that a drug producing profound mental changes in tiny doses (less than 50 micrograms) likely touches the core of some vital neurological process.
Archives of General Psychiatry
August 1, 1964
H Kuramochi
9 citations
LSD-25 (D-lysergic acid diethylamide) induces extraordinary psychic symptoms, first noted by A. Hofmann and later discussed phenomenologically by W. A. Stoll and G. Condrau. Numerous studies have followed, but there is no general agreement on interpreting the so-called LSD-psychosis. Some researchers inferred that a chemical substance might cause schizophrenia, yet LSD symptoms cannot have a necessary relationship to schizophrenia because they vary according to subjects and dosage, among other factors. The effect of LSD on humans is too variable to permit identification with schizophrenia.
Archives of General Psychiatry
May 1, 1964
Harriet B. Linton
8 citations
Subjective reactions to LSD-25 can be grouped into distinct dimensions based on empirical data, rather than relying solely on clinical concepts. Previous research offered only general descriptions or a priori groupings, and neglected how personality relates to specific reactions. This report presents empirical evidence differentiating major dimensions of the LSD-25 reaction, addressing these gaps by analyzing clusters of reactions, building on earlier work by Salvatore and Hyde and the authors' own prior study.
Archives of General Psychiatry
June 1, 1984
Johanna A. Hoffman
7 citations
A patient with no history of LSD ingestion reported 14 of 16 visual symptoms characteristic of LSD flashbacks, including persistent visual distortions that began during a near-psychotic episode at age 17 and continued for 20 years with decreased frequency. Short trials of two neuroleptics (thiothixene and trifluoperazine hydrochloride) increased her symptoms. This case suggests that the visual phenomenology associated with LSD flashbacks can occur without prior hallucinogen exposure, arising instead from a psychotic episode.
Archives of General Psychiatry
June 1, 1984
Henry David Abraham
6 citations
The author responds to a suggestion that visual disturbances described in LSD users also occur in non-users. While a careful history is key to diagnosing LSD flashback syndrome, clinicians must first rule out more dangerous and treatable causes of visual disturbances, including brain lesions, infections, metabolic issues, deliria, dementias, sleep disturbances, and eye disorders. In the author's study, two non-LSD-using control subjects reported eight and nine types of visual disturbances with no diagnostic explanation found, while other controls reported five or fewer. This suggests that some individuals without LSD use experience multiple unexplained visual disturbances.