LSD therapy shows promise for anxiety disorders, says expert

Incomplete outcome data, a source of attrition bias, were measured in terms of completion rate and completeness of outcome data. The completion rate was high (75% to 100%) in all but 1 trial, and these studies were assessed as low risk. The lower completion rate for 1 trial (66%), was assessed as high risk; however, the completion rate was likely attributable to the terminal disease in the participants.

Other studies did not specify which patients maintained subsequent therapy (70), or did not examine session results unless patients actively requested it (68). In one of these studies (70), a possibly inadequate follow-up of subjects was mentioned, without giving them the opportunity to receive further treatment. Regarding the physical (sensory stimuli) and interpersonal environment of subjects during the LSD treatment (see Table 2), in five trials (59, 62, 69, 72, 75), musical stimulation during the session was offered.

This means the FDA will work closely with MindMed during the next phase of testing in humans (called “phase 3”). In addition, there are many anxious patients for whom none of the established drugs work. “Moreover, by altering LSD to lessen its intensity and duration, these treatments could gain broader acceptance among patients, healthcare providers, and regulatory authorities, paving the way for wider adoption in medical practice,” she said.

The purpose of this systematic review is to identify controlled and randomized clinical trials that assess the potential use of LSD in psychiatry and identify variables controlled by the researcher as potentially related to therapeutic outcomes. This is with the aim of informing a discussion on the benefits and challenges of integrating contemporary classic hallucinogens research into modern clinical trial designs and providing a guide for further research involving LSD as a therapeutic agent. The efficacy of the psychedelics on anxiety symptoms was measured using different scales and self-reported questionnaires.

Two of the studies (67, 75) also excluded those patients with a history of severe affective disorder. Most clinical trials (65, 68–71, 74, 75) discarded those patients with active psychosis for the study, but some of them (65, 68, 70, 74) did not rule out patients with a history of psychosis in the past. Despite the foregoing, most clinical studies involving the use of LSD were published between the 1960s and 1970s, up to the strict prohibition of its use in research. Obviously, most of these studies were not performed under contemporary standards.

“We have shown that LSD can rebuild these branches that are ‘dismantled’ due to stress. This is a sign of brain plasticity,” explains Dr. Danilo De Gregorio, who is today an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at San Raffaele University in Milan and first author of the study. No additional adverse events were reported in the follow-up period, and no additional clinically relevant flashback phenomena or HPPD occurred.

Data from a MindMed presentation on MMED008 representing the full analysis of the set population. For context, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), also known as HARS, is a clinician-administered tool designed to assess the severity of a patient’s anxiety symptoms. A once-controversial psychedelic substance could hold the key to treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

The Clinic says it has begun its first trial using LSD to manage mental illness. The clinical trial will give patients LSD to treat generalized anxiety disorder. In conclusion, and despite some controversial results mentioned above, LSD is revealed as a potential therapeutic agent in psychiatry; the evidence to date is strongest for the use of LSD in the treatment of alcoholism. Despite the difficulty of designing double-blind clinical trials with this substance, new studies performed under modern standards are necessary in order to strengthen our knowledge, help erase the stigma that still prevails around these substances and open new doors buy lsd online in the future. In one of the studies (69), authors described a tonic–clonic seizure, without subsequent complications, in a patient with a previous history of seizures in a context of abstinent clinical symptoms. In another one (74), a case of prolonged psychosis was reported in a 21-year-old patient with a previous history of recurrent psychotic episodes in the context of hospitalization during adolescence.

Sara’s prior research work includes participation as a study therapist in psychedelic therapy research at Yale University and the University of Connecticut’s Health Center. Sara was the first Black therapist to provide MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a clinical trial and continues to engage in ongoing advocacy work around health equity in psychedelic medicine. LSD (c) has shown mental health potential since April 19, 1943, the day Albert Hofmann, who first synthesized LSD, accidentally dosed himself and immediately understood its potential for understanding human consciousness. Hofmann could tell from the start that LSD might have therapeutic benefits, taken mindfully and within a safe context. After decades of psychedelic prohibition, LSD is once again emerging in research as a powerful tool in mental health treatment. In March 2024, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy status to Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc.’s LSD compound, MM120, for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Investigators plan to enroll 200 participants who will receive either a single administration of up to 200 µg of MM-120 or placebo. The primary objective is to determine the reduction in anxiety symptoms 4 weeks after a single administration of MM-120, compared across the 5 treatment arms. Key secondary objectives, measured up to 12 weeks after the single administration, include assessments of safety and tolerability as well as quality of life. Likewise, multiple modern clinical trials involving other hallucinogens have been carried out in the last decade, mainly with psilocybin.

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