LSD-25 as an Adjunct to Long-Term Psychotherapy

In 24 patients with long-standing psychiatric difficulties, LSD-25 was used as an adjunct to psychotherapy when other methods failed. Over 56 sessions totaling 119.25 hours, only 5 of 24 patients showed lasting benefit; 5 improved temporarily then relapsed, 12 showed no improvement, and 2 had insufficient follow-up. The extent of the psychedelic experience did not predict therapeutic benefit, and session outcomes could not be predicted beforehand or even in the weeks after. LSD-25 was sometimes helpful but usually unpredictable, with no increase in suicidal tendencies. Therapist insight always increased but rarely translated into patient benefit.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The author describes his experience with LSD-25 as an adjunct to long-term psychotherapy in 24 patients between September, 1962 and May, 1965, involving a total of 56 LSD-25 sessions for a total duration of 119 1/4 hours. Where therapy blocks developed which could not be overcome, narcoanalysis with or without methylphenidate † was used and if this was not successful LSD-25 was considered. The 24 experimental subjects were almost all suffering from disabling and long-standing psychiatric difficulties. In five out of 24 patients LSD-25 did seem to help the patient to overcome therapeutic blocks successfully; five patients showed only temporary movement and relapsed; 12 patients showed no therapeutic movement whatsoever; in two patients the follow-up was insufficient. There was no stable correlation between the extent of the psychedelic experience and the amount of therapeutic benefit. The events of the LSD-25 sessions could not be predicted on the basis of pre-LSD-25 experience with the patient, nor could the therapeutic outcome of the LSD-25 sessions be predicted on the basis of the session itself, or even on the basis of the first days or weeks following the session. LSD-25 appeared as a sometimes helpful though usually unpredictable treatment variable within the over-all treatment program. When introduced as an adjunct late in the treatment procedure it did not seem to have any untoward psychodynamic effects and no undue increase in suicidal tendencies was noted. The therapist's insight into the patient's dynamics was always increased, though this could far from always be translated into therapeutic benefit.