First-time LSD use: effects on mental health

A study by Spanish researchers seeks to find out how LSD affects first-time users.

Currently, we found few studies that evaluate changes in psychological variables after a first use of psychedelics.. This is due, among other things, to the fact that it is extremely difficult to find people who are going to start using drugs.

Generally, the samples used already have a lot of experience or, if not, they are carefully selected, ensuring the total and absolute absence of any psychopathological trait, thus reducing the externalthus undermining the external validity of the results. That is, the possibility of extrapolating the findings to the entire population.

With the aim of obtaining information about these early consumptions, the psychologist Genís Oña, researcher at the Medical Anthropology Research Center of the Rovira i Virgili University and the recently deceased psychologist Juan Spuch, initiated a research project in mid-2014. The preliminary results of this project were presented at the Breaking Convention international congress, which was held at the University of Greenwich, London.

In context: the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.

Recently, psychedelic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin are starring in many journalistic or popularization articles, in which possible therapeutic applications are discussed.

After several decades of prohibition in which any attempt at scientific research was ipso facto nullified, laboratories, hospitals and universities around the world are carrying out new studies on these substances with the aim of developing new pharmacological therapies. with the aim of developing new pharmacological therapies..

Despite this prolonged "scientific vacuum", many users turned, and continue to turn, to these substances for medical reasons. Quite a few users noticed beneficial effects, often unexpected, on their anxiety, their mood or on illnesses such as cluster headaches. such as cluster headaches following the use of psychedelic drugs. Due to the needs of these patients and of so many others susceptible to achieve some improvement in their situation, important institutions such as Scientific American or the British Journal of Psychiatry, have launched these last years express requests to reactivate this "psychedelic research".

So far, some therapeutic potentialities of some of these therapeutic potentialities of some of these substances were already known.However, new studies have appeared that have raised new questions. One of them is, for example, what happens when someone who has never taken this type of drug takes it for the first time? We could easily encounter this situation in the future if these treatments were approved, as many potential patients would never have tried these drugs, and we need to know exactly what the effects of this first contact are.

How the research on the effects of LSD was carried out

In their study, Genís Oña and Juan Spuch managed to gather 9 young university students who met the profile they were looking for: they had no previous experience in the use of psychedelic drugs and were planning to use LSD in the near future.

"The goal was to respect at all times the natural course of the situation," explains Genís. "We did not want to modify the context of consumption We didn't want to modify the context of consumption by thinking about administering the substance in some hospital, as in other clinical trials. We wanted to see what really happens, in real situations. Something that is halfway between pragmatic trials or ethnographic methodology".

The variables included in the study were levels of anxiety, depression, a measure of general psychopathology, a personality profile and level of life satisfaction. These were analyzed with standardized tests.

These dimensions were assessed approximately one week before consumption and 30 days after consumption. and 30 days after consumption. A three-month follow-up was also performed to check the stability over time of the possible changes produced. In addition, a control group that did not use LSD was used and the same tests were administered.

The effects of this drug on first-time users

Early results indicated clear differences in the baseline levels of some variables between the two groups. It appeared that the group planning to use LSD was more depressed, with more presence of psychopathological traits such as obsessions, compulsions or psychoticism.compulsions or psychoticism, and with a lower satisfaction with life than the control group.

This changed after consumption. The data obtained in the retest showed a significant decrease, not only in these variables in which they differed with respect to the control group, but also in others, such as the level of anxiety, neuroticism, hostility or somatization.. Thus, no significant differences could be found between the two groups in any variable, and in the experimental group a significant overall improvement was observed after the experience.

The information obtained from the three-month follow-up suggests a certain stability in these changes, as they were still significantly different from baseline levels. There were also no significant differences between the two groups.

The beneficial potential of LSD

Does this mean that a first use of LSD can be beneficial? It is likely. However, we must be aware of the limitations of the study and be cautious in interpreting its results.

First, the sample was relatively small and, in addition, there was poor control for extraneous variables that cannot be controlled outside of a clinical trial. Secondly, the effect of the psychedelic experience can be interpreted as a profoundly positive experience, since for all subjects who consumed LSD it represented a unique and unrepeatable experience. In fact, more than half of them rated it as one of the best experiences of their lives.. "Perhaps this effect" - explains Genís Oña - "is comparable to other profoundly positive experiences that we live only very occasionally, such as traveling to a distant country or spending a day in an amusement park".

In any case, these results seem to legitimize the scientific investigation of the therapeutic potential of these substances.If we can observe these beneficial effects without any psychotherapeutic context, the potential of these substances in a suitable context seems very promising.

Many details of the study have had to be omitted due to its complexity, but the full article can be consulted in the Journal of Transpersonal Research.