Flashback: psychiatric experimentation with LSD in historical perspective
- PMID: 16086535
- DOI: 10.1177/070674370505000703
Flashback: psychiatric experimentation with LSD in historical perspective
Abstract
In the popular mind, d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) research in psychiatry has long been associated with the CIA-funded experiments conducted by Ewen Cameron at the Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal, Quebec. Despite this reputation, a host of medical researchers in the post World War II era explored LSD for its potential therapeutic value. Some of the most widespread trials in the Western world occurred in Saskatchewan, under the direction of psychiatrists Humphry Osmond (in Weyburn) and Abram Hoffer (in Saskatoon). These medical researchers were first drawn to LSD because of its ability to produce a "model psychosis." Their experiments with the drug that Osmond was to famously describe as a "psychedelic" led them to hypothesize and promote the biochemical nature of schizophrenia. This brief paper examines the early trials in Saskatchewan, drawing on hospital records, interviews with former research subjects, and the private papers of Hoffer and Osmond. It demonstrates that, far from being fringe medical research, these LSD trials represented a fruitful, and indeed encouraging, branch of psychiatric research occurring alongside more famous and successful trials of the first generation of psychopharmacological agents, such as chlropromazine and imipramine. Ultimately, these LSD experiments failed for 2 reasons, one scientific and the other cultural. First, in the 1950s and early 1960s, the scientific parameters of clinical trials shifted to necessitate randomized controlled trials, which the Saskatchewan researchers had failed to construct. Second, as LSD became increasingly associated with student riots, antiwar demonstrations, and the counterculture, governments intervened to criminalize the drug, restricting and then terminating formal medical research into its potential therapeutic effects.
Similar articles
-
LSD before Leary. Sidney Cohen's critique of 1950s psychedelic drug research.Isis. 1997 Mar;88(1):87-110. doi: 10.1086/383628. Isis. 1997. PMID: 9154737
-
Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD).ACS Chem Neurosci. 2018 Oct 17;9(10):2331-2343. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00043. Epub 2018 Mar 1. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2018. PMID: 29461039 Review.
-
From Hofmann to the Haight Ashbury, and into the future: the past and potential of lysergic acid diethlyamide.J Psychoactive Drugs. 2014 Jan-Mar;46(1):3-10. doi: 10.1080/02791072.2014.873684. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2014. PMID: 24830180 Review.
-
Flashback to the 1960s: LSD in the treatment of autism.Dev Neurorehabil. 2007 Jan-Mar;10(1):75-81. doi: 10.1080/13638490601106277. Dev Neurorehabil. 2007. PMID: 17608329
-
Humphry Fortescue Osmond (1917-2004), a radical and conventional psychiatrist: The transcendent years.J Med Biogr. 2016 Feb;24(1):115-24. doi: 10.1177/0967772013479520. Epub 2014 Mar 21. J Med Biogr. 2016. PMID: 24658216
Cited by
-
The potential of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine in the treatment of alcohol use disorder: A first look at therapeutic mechanisms of action.Addict Biol. 2024 Apr;29(4):e13386. doi: 10.1111/adb.13386. Addict Biol. 2024. PMID: 38600715 Free PMC article. Review.
-
A Comprehensive Review of the Current Status of the Cellular Neurobiology of Psychedelics.Biology (Basel). 2023 Oct 28;12(11):1380. doi: 10.3390/biology12111380. Biology (Basel). 2023. PMID: 37997979 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Nature-themed video intervention may improve cardiovascular safety of psilocybin-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder.Front Psychiatry. 2023 Sep 18;14:1215972. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1215972. eCollection 2023. Front Psychiatry. 2023. PMID: 37795513 Free PMC article.
-
Neuroimaging in psychedelic drug development: past, present, and future.Mol Psychiatry. 2023 Sep;28(9):3573-3580. doi: 10.1038/s41380-023-02271-0. Epub 2023 Sep 27. Mol Psychiatry. 2023. PMID: 37759038 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Psychosis and psychedelics: Historical entanglements and contemporary contrasts.Transcult Psychiatry. 2022 Oct;59(5):592-609. doi: 10.1177/13634615221129116. Epub 2022 Oct 26. Transcult Psychiatry. 2022. PMID: 36300247 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical