Nicotinic Acid Modified Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Psychosis

Theoretical and flesh and blood models, such as drug-induced psychoses, aim to provide insights into psychopathology but cannot accurately represent naturally occurring psychoses due to their inherent variability. A model is useful only insofar as it helps generate and test hypotheses about disease etiology, mechanisms, or treatment. This paper examines the model psychosis produced by LSD.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Theoretical models ranging from neurological to analytical have been introduced in the hope of providing new insights into psychopathology. The flesh and blood model is of more recent origin in this field. The experimental or model psychosis results from giving “normals” drugs which bring about a psychotic-like experience for a few hours. As is the case with theoretical models, the flesh and blood models are not accurate representations of the naturally occurring psychosis. In fact, the variability manifest in most naturally occurring psychoses makes the existence of an accurate model impossible. A model, whether carefully planned and developed or accidentally discovered, is useful to the extent that it assists us in better understanding the naturally occurring process it approximates. It is useful if it enables us to set up and test hypotheses which contribute additional knowledge about disease aetiology, mechanisms, or treatment. The model psychosis to be studied in this paper is that produced by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).