The Surprising Health Benefits of LSD
Disclaimer:
LSD is currently prohibited in most countries on Earth. The Author's views are their own, and the owner of this website does not promote or endorse the illegal use of prohibited substances unless officially sanctioned by a research institution with full authorization from DEA, NIDA, or other official regulatory bodies. Any statements to the contrary on this website are the author's personal political views alone. There is nothing within this article that should be construed as Medical Advice or Legal Advice. Speak with a Medical Doctor or Attorney prior to seeking medical treatment or taking actions that may be deemed illegal in your country. DO NOT USE illegal substances without authorization from an authorized government agency or medical provider. Information contained within this article may be inaccurate and potentially harmful if acted upon. Content is for educational, informational, and discussion purposes only.
LSD is currently prohibited in most countries on Earth. The Author's views are their own, and the owner of this website does not promote or endorse the illegal use of prohibited substances unless officially sanctioned by a research institution with full authorization from DEA, NIDA, or other official regulatory bodies. Any statements to the contrary on this website are the author's personal political views alone. There is nothing within this article that should be construed as Medical Advice or Legal Advice. Speak with a Medical Doctor or Attorney prior to seeking medical treatment or taking actions that may be deemed illegal in your country. DO NOT USE illegal substances without authorization from an authorized government agency or medical provider. Information contained within this article may be inaccurate and potentially harmful if acted upon. Content is for educational, informational, and discussion purposes only.
It all started with the legalization of cannabis. It seems new studies are coming out all the time about how marijuana has surprising health benefits with regards to healing the body of various illnesses, such as cancer and various mental illnesses due to its calming effect. But enough about the herbal drugs. This article will look at the surprising benefits of taking Lysergic Acid Diethlyamide, or LSD, when it comes to the personal growth of the individual. It seems the hippies back in the 1960’s were onto something; the only problem is how they went about it. That being said, we recommend that you test this 'MP3' designed to 'train' your brainwaves to optimal states. This is free through our site when you click here.
The history behind LSD's Benefits
Just 30 years before the cultural revolution of the 1960’s, there was a scientist by the name of Albert Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman was working in a laboratory, studying a medical plant and ergot fungus. His purpose at that time was to create a stimulant for the respiratory and circulatory system. Through some chemical composition, Hoffman ended up creating LSD. One day he absorbed it on accident and ended up experiencing strange visions along with fantastic visions. By just taking what Hoffman thought was a very low and safe dose of LSD, about .25 milligrams (250 micrograms), he went on a journey into the center of his own psyche.
Flash forward to the Cultural Revolution
After 30 years of extensive research which led to the compilation of thousands of research papers, the use of LSD exploded in the 1950’s in the treatment of a variety of mental disorders. The new verdict was in: that psychedelic drugs such as LSD could better enable a person’s personal growth by getting in touch and exploring the deepest corners of an individual’s mind who suffered from a serious mental disorder.
So what happened during the 1960’s that stopped the scientific experimentation with this psychedelic drug known as LSD? This period is known as the cultural revolution where many young baby boomers, also known as the hippies, begin to experiment with sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. It is also the Cultural Revolution where these young people wanted to tune out and topple the establishment.
It was not so much the drug itself that led to many issues in society, it has always been the way certain individuals go about using the substances themselves. The psychedelic drugs themselves never really killed anyone; it has always been other external factors:
As we can see, the real issue with the use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs lies in the average person’s lack of self-control. It is human nature to have problems with authority. We think we know better than the professionals who studied all of the compiled research. The result is that we begin to experiment in unhealthy ways and then lose our self-control and do something stupid. The best way to have more self-control is to accept the limits that are placed upon us that is based on the wisdom of those with authority who study the research on these topics. Of course it does not help that many of today’s medical professionals are biased toward “conventional medicines” which claim to be “backed by science”. Other studies have shown the horrific side effects of taking some of these pills, such as antipsychotics and antidepressants. Keep in mind that you can get high on anything if you take enough of it, even SSRI’s or other anxiety drugs and tranquilizers. A lot of these emotional highs are psychological; in other words you feel high because you think you merely think you are high. Some people get an emotional high simply because they are rejecting established authority which results in an adrenaline rush.
It seems hard to believe that the hard drug known as LSD, or acid, has actually made contributions to society, but there are indeed benefits from LSD. Typically, people think of drugs like LSD, and they do not normally think of the potential benefits; they only remember the tripping hippies who were dying of overdoses during the 1960’s.
LSD and it's benefits were discovered by accident in a laboratory back in the 1930’s by Albert Hoffman and was used in clinical research over the next 30 years. It all started when Hoffman was researching something he could use to treat respiratory issues, until he accidentally absorbed some of the drug and begin to experience intense hallucinations. This was in 1938 and it was not until twenty years later that he revisited the drug that it became more widespread to treat an assorted variety of mental health disorders. LSD's benefits were, in-fact, well researched at Johns Hopkins University, a world class medical research institution.
The studies showed that in a strong dose of 200 - 250 mcg, LSD's benefits could help one detach from conventional reality long enough to get in touch with their psyche. It was only when the drug became popular during the Cultural Revolution that the government decided to ban the drug and throw money away in the so-called War on Drugs which was unwinnable at all costs.
So what were some of the benefits of LSD?
Had it not been for the benefits of drugs like LSD, we may have never had such great rock n’ roll music during its heyday in the 1960’s. This was the period known as the British Invasion Era. Have you ever heard the song by The Beatles’ entitled “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”? If you look closely you can see the acronym for LSD, and The Beatles believed in LSD's benefits for enhancing creativity. If you ever listen to the song, you can tell they were singing about an LSD experience. It is one of their few songs that does not make any sense, yet has a good melody just the same.
One of the benefits of LSD is that it gets you in touch with your psyche. This has unlimited power to release an artistic creative person’s creative potential. There was another song by the four man band from Liverpool, England that was titled “Strawberry Fields Forever” that was recorded during an acid trip.
Benefits of Enhanced Creativity with LSD
In another scenario, there was a female who had an idea for an experiment with an artistic friend who used LSD for it's benefits to creativity. This girl sat and observed her artistic friend draw a series of self-portraits for about ten hours just to see what would happen as time went along. The first 15 minutes, the artist drew like she normally did. You could not tell she had just taken the minimum dose of 200 mcg which would induce hallucinations. During the next half hour she could draw self-portraits without even watching herself in a mirror.
Over the next hour, the artist’s colors start to become more vibrant. Also the hair she is drawing is getting longer. The self-portraits start to come alive with color at a quarter past two hours and by three and a half, she is no longer drawing in any eyes on her little hand-drawn selfie. After six hours and over a half-dozen self-portraits, the artist on LSD gives up on the black pencil and everything is in color.
At eight hours, the artist and her observant friend are listening to Pink Floyd in the dark and she is still drawing herself. Her picture is wearing a costume mask over her eyes by the looks of the painting. After nine hours, the artistic person was no longer able to draw what was inside of her head because, as she said it, there was just too much going on outside of her own head.
As you can see from the strung out artist and the Beatles’, they totally reinvented themselves while under the influence of LSD due to it's multiple benefits. The Beatles’ started experimenting with the benefits of LSD during the mid-1960. This was about the height of their career 50 years ago around this time. As for the self-portrait, it was more colorful and vibrant. The latter revealed the creative potential that we are all capable of when we get in touch with our inner psyche and get away from the hustle and bustle of what is known as normative consensus reality. The benefits of psychedelic drugs like LSD have the capabilities to show us who we really and what we are capable of without having it suppressed by conforming to the demands of everyday life.
The History of LSD
The discovery of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) and LSD's benefits is a compelling and fascinating story. Its history is full of serendipitous events, curious research, and impassioned scientists researching the benefits of LSD. Essential to its astute application for mental LSD's mental health benefits in the field of psychotherapy is the respect and passion demonstrated by researchers and intellectuals for the power and potential of the benefits of LSD. Many scientists, aware and fully conscious of its great power to open the mind to new spaces, understood the importance of using it in a controlled, therapeutic setting. The eventual popularization of LSD's benefits as a party drug in the 1960s prompted a deep social fear that created a discourse of demonization and ignorance. Social scientists attribute this fear to the fact that LSD's benefits include reframing the way the user sees the world, prompting a deep incentive to question and change systems of authority and government institutions. By the 1970s, the culture of fear built around LSD's benefits was enough for the US government to classify it as a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive categorization, characterizing it with a high potential for abuse and no legitimate medical purpose. The most unfortunate result of this is that important, responsible, and potentially healing research into the benefits of LSD was halted while its short-sighted use continued without any safety or support structure for the user. Today, there are strong efforts to change the erroneous narrative on LSD and the global drug policies that prevent its responsible use for psychological treatment to the benefit of those in need.
LSD's Benefits & History: Ergot Research, Arthur Stoll, and Albert Hofmann
Stumbling upon LSD and it's benefits began with research into the isolated compounds of ergot, a fungal disease that appears on rye grains and other types of cereals. Consumption of ergot-plighted grains causes severe poisoning, gangrene, and symptoms of psychosis. In 1917, Arthur Stoll was working at Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratories in Switzerland and found that the isolated compounds of ergot: ergatomine and ergobasine, in controlled doses, could be used to constrict blood-vessels without any of the deleterious symptoms of ergotism. Further research showed lysergic acid as the common thread in all derived compounds of ergot. More than a decade later, Albert Hofmann began work at Sandoz. Hofmann synthesized the active compounds in ergot with several other organic molecules. On the twenty-fifth synthesis, he combined lysergic acid with a derived compound of ammonia –diethylamine. What started out as research into migraine treatment resulted in the discovery of a drug that would change the way we think about our minds and the way we approach therapy and healing. On April 16th, 1943, while handling a synthesis of LSD-25, Hofmann accidentally ingested a small amount. He asked an assistant to accompany him home because he began to feel “a peculiar restlessness.” The tale of his bike ride home is probably the most popularly cited anecdote of the day the power of LSD and it's potential benefits was discovered.
LSD's Benefits - Psychological Research on Schizophrenia and Alcoholism
Shipments of LSD-25 were sent to psychotherapy research centers in England, Canada, the US, and Czechoslovakia to learn more about it's benefits. Perhaps the most salient story of LSD's research into it's benefits takes place in Saskatchewan with doctors Humphry Osmond and Abram Hoffer. Osmond and Hoffer found that LSD attributes immense significance to things that otherwise seem mundane. It highly magnifies one’s awareness of energies and makes accessible new ways of considering our existence. Osmond comments that LSD's benefits includes giving “special significance” to all textures and colors, problematizing all things, in a sense. Humphry relocated from England to Saskatchewan to work at Weyburn mental hospital, serving patients with schizophrenia. The main incentive behind supplementing therapy for deeply ill schizophrenia sufferers was the theory that LSD's benefits includes allowing one to feel a semblance of what the schizophrenic patient experiences when going through an episode of what Osmond describes as losing the ability “to hold the world constant.” Perhaps the most interesting part of Osmond and Hoffer’s experimentation with LSD's benefits is that their main objective was to produce Schizophrenic-like symptoms in themselves to catalyze greater understanding and empathy for their patients. This point further bolsters the idea that LSD's benefits includes forming palpable emotional links among human beings, endowing people with better abilities to exert compassion and motivating them to help others. Both Hoffer and Osmond attest to the fact that taking LSD produced benefits, which included making them much more aware of what happens in the minds of schizophrenic patients, allowing them to consider the accounts of their experiences more seriously.
Next, Hoffer and Osmond, along with Professor of Psychology Duncan Blewett, conducted a study of 500 patients with severe alcoholism. While their initial intention was to correlate the alcohol with an extremely unpleasant and terrifying experience produced by LSD, Osmond and Hoffer found something altogether different and pleasantly unexpected. Instead of helping patients develop a disdain for alcohol, the LSD did something much more beneficial and effective at producing lasting change in the alcoholic’s frames of thought and behaviors. LSD's benefits included prompting fundamental shifts in the alcoholics’ deep seated resignation to their drug of choice. Osmond illustrates the similar way in which LSD magnifies, and thus provides easy access to, different ways of viewing one’s existence. The benefit of LSD treatment managed to draw the alcoholic patient out of their harmful, petrified modes of thinking, and helped them see, making them very aware of the shortcomings caused by their prioritization of alcohol. The substance, supplemented with guided therapy, inspired the patients to feel “a powerful incentive” to change their habits.
LSD's Benefits: Spiritual Realization
Sometime after Hoffer and Osmond were conducting studies on LSD's benefits as a supplement to therapy, an entrepreneur and self-described visionary named Alfred Hubbard began championing LSD's benefits for the purpose of spiritual growth and self-knowledge. Hubbard strongly believed that LSD's benefits were meant to change mankind because of it helped people “resolve inner conflict” and reach deeper levels of self-understanding. Hubbard’s main focus in establishing a foundation dedicated to investigating LSD was more subjective in comparison to the psychological research carried out in Saskatchewan. Nonetheless, Hoffer and Osmond formed part of the foundation’s board. Later, Aldous Huxley was inspired to write his famous book The Doors of Perception after befriending Humphry Osmond and having experienced a beneficial LSD session. Huxley was also inspired by Hubbard’s endeavor to set up LSD treatment centers around the world. The idea was that a candidate would write down a short summary of their lives and relationships before ingesting LSD in a controlled setting, with people nearby for support and music playing in the background. This kind of approach was specifically designed to catalyze the spiritual wisdom sought after by the participant. Hubbard, as well as Huxley, emphasized the importance of intention. The benefits of exploration on LSD are tapped into if the person consciously desired to try LSD for its potential to expand understanding. This idea of preparation and intention, and the feeling that LSD self-exploration should be seen as a “serious, experimental ritual,” is what marks the difference between the scientific and spiritual use of LSD and the forthcoming popularization of the substance.
LSD's Benefits vs. Misguided Use of LSD
The common sentiment underlying statements by scientists and researchers is that the use of LSD for pleasure and partying, or, as in the case of the US army –as a weapon, is a gross misuse of something powerful, with great teaching potential. Again, the importance of set and setting is highlighted to remark on the fact that careless use of LSD is not effective for someone to truly grasp what the substance may teach them, but it can also be extremely unpleasant without a non-threatening setting and people around that are meant to provide support should someone need it. In 1961, members of the Harvard psychedelic club began conducting research on psychedelics with a broad array of projects. However, the institution cancelled their project after becoming concerned over the growing media attention now widely attributed to Timothy Leary. Stanislav Grof and Abram Hoffer both expressed that they hold Leary partially accountable for the eventual prohibition of scientific LSD research and its subsequent proliferation as a common street and party substance.
By the mid-1960s, the widespread use of LSD and the counter-culture movements going on simultaneously, made it easier to place culpability on the drug itself for the civil unrest propelled by the civil rights, feminist, anti-war, and ecology movements. The US government grew weary of LSD’s capacity to foment profound incentive in young people to question and speak out against government actions. In 1970, Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act, placing LSD as a Schedule I drug –prohibiting its use for medical and scientific research.
The Future of LSD and it's Benefits in Psychology
Recently, perhaps the most exciting news is the founding of a non-profit organization called EmmaSofia in Norway. Neuroscientist Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen started the project in hopes of building a global cultural understanding of the healing value of and benefits of LSD and other psychedelics. Their objective is to allow doctors, and the general public, access to regulated, quality controlled LSD and psychedelics for a variety of beneficial purposes. Mainly, the goal is to treat people with post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and drug addiction –but there is also cultural value in allowing some kind of regulated access to society in general. The driving point is that current global drug policy in fact harms public safety and hinders the ability for so many people to heal from debilitating emotional and psychological afflictions. There are so many previous studies that attest to the enormous benefits of LSD and the hope is that highlighting these benefits will change the popular discourse on LSD to one that views it as a human right for those suffering needlessly. This could be the start of a promising forthcoming chapter in the history of LSD (Conclusion of Section 1, by Sofia Vidal).
Exploring LSD's Benefits and Spirituality: What to Expect
When many people think about LSD, they think about seeing dragons or witnessing their friends melt in front of them. However, for decades, many people have used LSD's benefits to have a spiritual experience. This drug has potent effects on the mind that allow people to get in touch with their most spiritual side. However, you need to understand exactly how it works, so that you can decide if using LSD's beneficial effects to connect with your spiritual side is the right idea for you. You also need to ensure that you know what to expect.
To use LSD's benefits to enhance your spirituality, you want to understand more about how LSD's benefits work, so that you know something about what can happen during your experience. This works to remove your fear so that you can put your focus on relaxing and having the deep spiritual experience you are aiming for.
How Long LSD's Side Effects Last
When you use LSD, the effects can occur for as long as 12 hours. After you take the drug, you typically start to notice the effects in approximately 30 minutes. You should be prepared to experience the effects for 12 hours even though they can last for far less time. You want to make sure that you are in a place where you will be safe for the duration of the drug’s effects. Many experts agree that you should have a “babysitter” to be with you so that if anything goes wrong during your time experiencing the drug’s effects, they will be there to help.
How Does LSD and It's Benefits Work?
Right now, experts do not fully understand the hallucinogenic properties of LSD's benefits or how it works in the brain. However, they believe that this drug has the power to encourage free thoughts due to the drug essentially switching off the parts of the brain that work to constrain consciousness. There is a clear increase in brain activity and this leads to your imagination becoming more overactive. Some experts, however, state that LSD's beneficial effects are a result of it's interaction with the serotonin receptors in the brain, interrupting or enhancing the brain’s chemical messengers.
All of the above has been noted on MRI imaging studies of people who have taken LSD. When it comes to the serotonin receptors in the brain, there are 15 of them. LSD has a specific activating effects on the 5HT-2A subtype receptor. This works to control your impulses and it plays a role in your cognitive processes. LSD works to over-stimulate these serotonin receptor sites in your brain, which disrupts conventional perception circuits. This allows for a free flow of thought, allowing you to get in touch with your spiritual side.
LSD's Beneficial Effects on the Brain
There is a brain chemical that can mimic psychosis and LSD has a similar chemical structure to it. This is what causes your altered perception and sensory, indescribable emotions and images and uncontrolled memory retrieval. These effects are responsible for your ability to see and imagine things that are not really there and this is important for spirituality. You need your mind to have the ability to be open to things that it would not be under normal circumstances, allowing you to go somewhere that will allow you to be more free and open to the world.
There is the potential for a “bad trip,” but most people do have a deep and good experience when using LSD in a beneficial manner. Be with someone you trust who will be sober when you go into an LSD trip. You also want to make sure that you go into in a good mood and with an open mind. Some people say that your mood when you take LSD has a significant influence on what you can experience when you are using the drug. You also want to go into your trip focusing on having a positive spiritual experience.
Now you have a better idea as to how LSD works to enhance your spiritual connection. It is a good idea to speak to someone who has experience with using LSD for spirituality so that you can learn the proper way to do it. This is important because you have to be in the right place and the right frame of mind to get the best experience possible. Having an experienced person with you ensures that you are doing it right and able to reap the most benefits from using LSD to enhance your spirituality and spiritual experience (Conclusion of Section 2).
The Mood Boosting & Beneficial Effects of LSD
Your mood impacts everything from your success at work or in school to your ability to having meaningful personal relationships. Because of this, you want to take care of your mood and mental health so that it always serves you well. However, some people need a little help to balance and control their mood. There are a number of medications and therapies that are used for this specific purpose, but not everyone responds to them in a favorable way. Since the 1930s, some people have turned to LSD's benefits as a way to elevate and stabilize their mood.
When you think about LSD's benefits, thinking about it being therapeutic is probably not something that crosses your mind, but it has well-established therapeutic benefits. The key is knowing how to use it, how to ensure that you are getting the proper dose and where to use it so that you have a pleasant experience.
Ensuring the Right Dose of LSD for Benefits & Mood Boosting Effects
When you are using LSD's benefits to boost your mood, getting the right dose is the most important part of the process. You should work with someone who is experienced in using LSD for this purpose because they can help you to choose the proper dose. The general dose falls between 10 and 20 micrograms. This is referred to a microdose of LSD. The purpose is not to experience the hallucinatory effects, but to get a positive boost in your mood and enhanced focus and clarity.
When you are using a microdose of LSD for beneficial effects, you typically do not take it daily like you would a prescription medication. In general, people take it about once every four days to reap the benefits. Getting the right dose should be your main priority because if you take too little, you will not get the full benefit of the LSD. However, if you take too much, you can hallucinate and have other negative symptoms that can harm your mood.
How to Use LSD for Benefits in an Environment that Promotes Positive Results
The environment you are in when you use LSD is critical because it sets the stage for the type of experience that you have. For example, if you are in a loud and distracting environment, you might not achieve the full focus-enhancing effects that come with the right microdose of this drug. Choose to be somewhere where you are comfortable and you do not need to drive yourself home. Most people find a quiet place in their home or yard to use LSD.
When you talk to an experienced person, they can help you to set the stage. You also need to go into using LSD's benefits with an open mind so that any negativity is not blocking the positive effects of the drug. When people do go into microdosing this drug feeling anxiety or having a down mood, it is far more difficult for them to experience the positive effects. Doing something like meditating prior to using LSD can help to clear your mind and increase your chances of a positive and mood-boosting experience.
How LSD Works to Boost Your Mood and Alleviate Negative Mental Health Symptoms
One of the initial uses of LSD's benefits was to calm depression and anxiety because this drug has a powerful effect on your mind. When someone properly uses LSD at micro doses, they often report:
Many people report that they feel calm and happy when they use LSD properly. They feel like they have control and that their ability to focus is much greater, ensuring a more stable mood.
As you can see, LSD has beneficial properties to aid in boosting mood and alleviating the symptoms of conditions like anxiety and depression. However, it is critical that you use it properly or else you can actually have a negative experience that can worsen your mood. Talk to someone is who experienced in using LSD for its positive effects. This will ensure that you have the information necessary involving things like proper dosing and knowing how to setup the right environment for using this type of drug. This ensures that you are getting the full benefit (Conclusion of Section 3)
Achieving a Buddhist Experience with LSD
The use of LSD's benefits to achieve a higher level of spirituality is not uncommon and this compound, when used properly, allows people to get in touch with their subconscious. There are several things someone must know to make this possible and proper use and the right setting are critical for a good and deep spiritual experience.
Planning Your Session
There are four primary goals that people have when they work to plan their session. You might have several goals, or just one, depending on your intentions. The following are the four goals that are suggested by classic Hinduism:
Increased personal power, insight into your culture and self, learning, intellectual understanding, improvement of your life situation and professional growth.
Since you are likely taking this journey with other people, you also need to agree on the mode of communication that you will use. You will be in a state of ego transcendence and heightened sensitivity, so having an agreed upon communication method will ensure that there are no misinterpretations.
If you are using LSD's benefits for this experience, so you must properly prepare to take the compound to have the experience that you seek. When you go into this with an open mind and no fear, it is far easier to get to the level of spirituality that you seek.
You need three days to have this experience, so you must plan properly. You should not do this and then head to work the next day. You need time to process and be fully in the moment. The day before you use LSD, you will prepare and work toward opening your mind. The second day is the day that you live your experience and the third day serves as a follow-up to process what you have experienced.
Picking the Right Setting
This is a critical part of the process because you need to be in a place where you can be open and not face any disruptions. You need a place that offers peace and privacy. Noisy neighbors, phone calls and friends stopping by will prevent you from having this experience. Many people choose to do this out in nature, but it must be a place where you feel safe and open.
Most people choose to have this experience in the evening and they say that their experience is much richer and deeper at this time of day. Talk to those you will be having this experience with and agree on a time and a place. You also need to choose the foods you will eat during this experience. Most people do not eat when they are deep within it, but after you want foods that you can enjoy when you have heightened senses, such as fruits, wine and cheese.
Understanding the Experience
How you experience this is highly individualized, but there are a number of things that multiple people report feeling and experiencing. These experiences come when you fully let go of your ego and allow yourself to go deeper into your spirituality. If you do not fully let go of your ego and achieve a completely liberated state, you can experience:
Since you want to avoid these sensations, you must be prepared to fully let your ego go. If you experience these, it means that you simply need to clear your mind and allow your mind and body to get to the next phase. This is why it is important to have this experience with someone who understands it and knows what can happen as you allow LSD's benefits to take over and take you to a deeper spiritual place.
While the information presented here will help to get people started, it is best to work with someone who is experienced in using LSD to get to a spiritual experience. This ensures that everything goes smoothly and that you get to the level you require for this experience (Conclusion of Section 4).
Exploring LSD's Benefits as a Treatment for Anxiety
LSD's benefits includes the ability to catalyze mystical and spiritual experiences and this is why some people use it to alleviate their depression. These states allow a person to become better grounded and connected so that they do not experience the fear and panic that typically come with anxiety. Understanding the use of LSD for anxiety is important because simply using the drug is not adequate for alleviating this condition. It is critical that the person uses it properly or else they can experience negative effects that can actually worsen their anxiety. The use of LSD's benefits for anxiety and other mental health troubles dates back to the 1930s. While many people see LSD as a drug that hippies used in the 60s and 70s, the origins of the drug are actually therapeutic. To this day, many people still use LSD as a way to awaken their spiritual side and reduce issues like anxiety and depression.
LSD Benefits & Microdosing to Alleviate Anxiety
Microdosing refers to using a small amount of LSD to achieve a therapeutic effect without experiencing the more psychedelic effects of the drug. Those using this method typically take a microdose of the drug once every four days to alleviate their anxiety and stabilize their mood. This method also appears to have a calming effect while making the world around you more vivid. This works to ensure a more spiritual experience while also keeping your mood under control so that stressors do not have the power to cause an anxiety attack.
It is important to never microdose LSD without first consulting an established professional for instructions on proper dose and usage. However, the general microdose for LSD when used to improve anxiety and spirituality is approximately 10 to 20 micrograms per dose. This does not cause the hallucinatory effect that LSD is known for. However, it does allow someone to have a more open mind and better focus. When you achieve these states, you are less likely to worry or feed burdened by things that previously caused you to experience anxiety and panic feelings.
Proper Use of LSD for Therapeutic Benefit
A small study in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease is unique because it is the first of its kind in four decades. The result from this study concluded that when combined with psychotherapy, LSD in the right amounts and in the right setting is effective and safe for alleviating anxiety in people who have a terminal illness. Scientists speculate that those who do not have a terminal illness, but suffer from anxiety may also have the same benefit. However, due to the problems with legality of LSD, further research has not been pursued.
New York University Tisch Hospital also performed a small study that included 32 patients. They administered 0.3 milligrams per kilogram of the patient’s bodyweight of psilocybin. The patients also received psychotherapy as part of a comprehensive treatment regimen. The psychotherapy was given before the administration of the drug and approximately six to eight hours after administration. After being given the drug and going into their psychotherapy session, the patients stated the following effects:
These feelings allowed patients to be more open and able to confront things that would normally cause them anxiety in a calm and controlled manner. They were able to achieve a higher sense of purpose and not be controlled by their fears and worries.
The research studies so far have been small, but the results have been promising prompting researchers to want to do further studies with larger patient pools. As of right now, LSD's benefits include having a good potential for alleviating anxiety when used in the right setting and at the right doses.
As you can see, there is evidence to suggest that LSD might be beneficial for helping to treat anxiety. However, those using this drug for that purpose must understand proper use and the other factors behind ensuring a positive experience. It is generally recommended that people work with someone who is experienced in using LSD as an anxiety treatment so that they can guide you and make sure that you have the best chance at a good experience. This will also help to reduce the risk of any negative effects that are possible during an LSD experience (Conclusion of Section 5).
LSD to Treat Depression and Anxiety
New studies that are based on old research from decades ago shows that the drug Lysergic Acid Diethlymide (LSD) may not be as harmful as the government says it is. This is great news when you consider all of the money that was spent with the war on drugs which was supposed to keep people from using LSD and other recreational drugs, and charging them with crimes if they were. The drug itself was discovered by accident in the laboratory of Albert Hoffman while he was performing research for a respiratory treatment. It seems when he accidentally absorbed enough of the drug to have his own mystical experiences, he decided to look into performing other research when it comes to treating substance abuse and mental health conditions.
How do LSD's Benefits help with symptoms of depression and anxiety?
Research during the 1950’s, just prior to the Cultural Revolution a decade later that was led by Timothy Leary, showed that a standard dose of LSD could invoke beneficial mystical hallucinations that would bring a person into deep contact with their psyche. Those who took part in the research studies said that they encountered traumatic memories from way back in their childhood.
Some of these test subjects even added that the memories were very distressing and can last up to ten hours. In response, one medical professional who was leading the study suggested that some of the memories would not be pleasant but encouraged them, because they would not last long and eventually result in a release of fear. As they say in Anonymous groups, “this too shall pass”. Once they made it through the rough ten hours, they slept off the effects.
How does this drug help with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression? By coming into contact with the deepest part of your psyche, you are forced to face the underlying issue of why you are depressed or anxious in the first place. It is usually in relation to something tragic that happened way back in your childhood. As the years pass, it just gets buried in your subconscious until something else triggers it later in life that either forces you to deal with it or self-medicate through drugs and alcohol.
The process of self-medicating, be it through drugs or alcohol, or even conventional pharmaceuticals is the same thing as basically putting a Band-Aid over it and pretending that the traumatic situation simply never even happened. This can work so well that you never really figure out what the core of your emotional struggles are; thus you end up believing that you merely have an untreatable illness such as addiction or a chemical imbalance like depression.
Once you come in contact with the underlying issue, you will have to deal with it or you will never be able to live a full life that you were meant to have. The vast majority of traumatic experiences in childhood are those that are of a sexual, physically abusive, or emotionally abusive nature. These usually are more likely to get buried in one’s past due to the guilt and shame that the victim experiences. This is especially true if sexual abuse was violent.
Physical abuse is a step above sexual because it is just as traumatic and can leave a person too scared to deal with life challenges. By taking a psychedelic drug like LSD and journeying to the center of their psyche, they can face their fears head on and forgive their abuser so that they can move forward with their life. Emotional abuse can also be very traumatic.
LSD's Benefits: Learning to let go
The end goal of life is to move forward. As a wise, yet humorous saying goes, “we should always look forward because that is the direction that we are always traveling”. However, it is hard to move forward when there is excess baggage which needs to be offloaded somewhere because it is weighing us down. Although everybody has baggage, it is harder to deal with if it is buried deep within our subconscious mind.
This is where medical process like hypnosis and recreational drugs will come in handy. We can open our minds while we look at all the things that happened throughout our life with greater clarity. Some of these things that we see may surprise us because some things have long been forgotten. The biggest benefit of psychedelic and recreational drugs like LSD is that, by bringing all of this “stuff” that was pushed back into our minds to the forefront, it then raises our consciousness up so that we know how to deal with it properly, The end result is that we are now empowered to move forward with our life, hopes, and dreams.
Legal LSD Trip?
Eye-Gazing: A legal hallucinatory experience
Have you ever played the game of stare down? This is where you gaze into someone’s eyes or at their facial features. Did you notice that if you do this long enough, their features may become distorted? After a while you could even start to have hallucinations. For example, your friend’s face can begin to resemble the face of a mountain lion.
There was a case study that involved a study such as this. In the study, well over half (about 75% to be exact) witnessed animals and other monster-like beings that was once where their friend’s face was just a few moments before. Those who conducted the study concluded that the hallucinations represented a brief departure from reality, or dissociation, that was brought about by a manual sensory stimulation from staring too long at a fixed object, such as another human being.
While only 75% witness such monster-like features, another 15% did not see monsters but they did get to see a major deformity in the face of the individual they were staring at. A mere 30% of the entire group did not necessarily see monster-like features, but they did see other types of animals after gazing at the other person for long enough.
There were other strange events that took place aside from hallucinations of mountain lions and other exotic animals. Some of the other strange occurrences involved time slowing down as the two test subjects who were staring at each other felt sort of a “spacey” feeling. Aside from the hallucinations and meditative states, a couple of the participants said it was a very emotional experience with one of them reporting that they cried the entire time.
All you need for a study like this is a dimly lit room and about ten minutes of your time. Also, you will want to make sure that you have a willing participant to perform the study with. If you just walk up to someone in a dimly lit room, you likely will not get too far into the ten minutes before they notify the authorities. Of course you really do not need to stare at another person as you can stare at the wall or even at an inanimate object, such as a rock.
Manual stimulation brought about by a dopamine rush
One individual commented that he started into someone’s eyes for ten minutes and ended up dating the young lady. Next thing they know, they were on a trip to marriage land and having kids and buying a house on top of all that. That was a joke of course, but the same sensation of losing touch with time and becoming spacey was still there. The manual stimulation brought about by staring at someone or something too long can create a rush in the neurotransmitter Dopamine. This is what leads to loss of contact with reality.
Dopamine is known as the pleasure, or sensory transmitter. Any stimulation causes this neurotransmitter to become excited. This is how severe anxiety can lead to paranoia and cause a Schizophrenic to lose contact with reality once the “fight or flight” response kicks in. As we can see from this study, staring at another human or even an inanimate object too long can cause a head rush. It does not take much for a person to depart from reality. A similar dissociation can take place if you are by yourself in a quiet room and turn the kitchen faucet so that water drips into a pan for about the same length of time as this little stare down game. After a while you could snap or become paranoid and possibly hallucinate.
Although it is nothing compared to the actual taking of the drug LSD for it's benefits, it is by far safer. Of course LSD which is taken in a standard strong dose of 200 mcg can help a person depart reality just long enough to get in touch with his own psyche in an effort to discover what makes him or her tick. The main reason for the prohibition of LSD, even with it's benefits, was because the government believed it was the only way to keep people from using too much of the drug. After years of wasting money prohibiting this drug, they are finally realizing that people are going to find ways to steal it and abuse it for their own temporary highs no matter what the law may be. This may lead to bringing back the use of LSD in a more controlled setting so that patients who are under the care of a doctor can experience the more positive benefits of LSD, if they use it right at the recommended dose.
Authors: Combined Article Content from Sofia Vidal, Erwin Wooten, and Rosemary Kitchen
References (Assorted):
http://www.newser.com/story/comments/211797/staring-into-a-persons-eyes-is-like-taking-lsd.html
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/08/the-truth-about-lsd-research-reveals-many-therapeutic-and-medicinal-benefits/
htbtp://aplus.com/a/drawing-self-portraits-on-lsd-trip
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-she-said-she-said/
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-accidental-discovery-of-lsd/379564/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/new-science-lsd-therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpSLjdPiSH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBgiEyUA5LA
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/hofmann.htm
https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/hubbard_al/hubbard_al.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/world/europe/an-uphill-campaign-in-norway-to-promote-lsd-as-a-human-right.html?_r=0
http://ibtimes.com/can-lsd-reduce-anxiety-first-human-trial-decades-shows-potential-benefits-psychedelic-drug-1559511
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/lsd-anxiety-study-psychotherapy-_n_4906596.html
http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/2014/07000/Safety_and_Efficacy_of_Lysergic_Acid.1.aspx
http://www.inforefuge.com/psychedelic-experience
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/821971
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/pahnke3.htm
The history behind LSD's Benefits
Just 30 years before the cultural revolution of the 1960’s, there was a scientist by the name of Albert Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman was working in a laboratory, studying a medical plant and ergot fungus. His purpose at that time was to create a stimulant for the respiratory and circulatory system. Through some chemical composition, Hoffman ended up creating LSD. One day he absorbed it on accident and ended up experiencing strange visions along with fantastic visions. By just taking what Hoffman thought was a very low and safe dose of LSD, about .25 milligrams (250 micrograms), he went on a journey into the center of his own psyche.
Flash forward to the Cultural Revolution
After 30 years of extensive research which led to the compilation of thousands of research papers, the use of LSD exploded in the 1950’s in the treatment of a variety of mental disorders. The new verdict was in: that psychedelic drugs such as LSD could better enable a person’s personal growth by getting in touch and exploring the deepest corners of an individual’s mind who suffered from a serious mental disorder.
So what happened during the 1960’s that stopped the scientific experimentation with this psychedelic drug known as LSD? This period is known as the cultural revolution where many young baby boomers, also known as the hippies, begin to experiment with sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. It is also the Cultural Revolution where these young people wanted to tune out and topple the establishment.
It was not so much the drug itself that led to many issues in society, it has always been the way certain individuals go about using the substances themselves. The psychedelic drugs themselves never really killed anyone; it has always been other external factors:
- As stated above, the standard dose of LSD is said to be 20 mcg daily. The external factors that can led to problems, such as death, would be taking well above the standard dose.
- Other external factors during the 1960’s were people getting high and jumping out of windows. Once again, this was not the drug itself; it is merely the misuse, or abuse, of the drug. Some people would go on an LSD trip without being under the guidance of a medical professional and lose touch with reality. The end result would be jumping out of a window to their death or some other catastrophe.
As we can see, the real issue with the use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs lies in the average person’s lack of self-control. It is human nature to have problems with authority. We think we know better than the professionals who studied all of the compiled research. The result is that we begin to experiment in unhealthy ways and then lose our self-control and do something stupid. The best way to have more self-control is to accept the limits that are placed upon us that is based on the wisdom of those with authority who study the research on these topics. Of course it does not help that many of today’s medical professionals are biased toward “conventional medicines” which claim to be “backed by science”. Other studies have shown the horrific side effects of taking some of these pills, such as antipsychotics and antidepressants. Keep in mind that you can get high on anything if you take enough of it, even SSRI’s or other anxiety drugs and tranquilizers. A lot of these emotional highs are psychological; in other words you feel high because you think you merely think you are high. Some people get an emotional high simply because they are rejecting established authority which results in an adrenaline rush.
It seems hard to believe that the hard drug known as LSD, or acid, has actually made contributions to society, but there are indeed benefits from LSD. Typically, people think of drugs like LSD, and they do not normally think of the potential benefits; they only remember the tripping hippies who were dying of overdoses during the 1960’s.
LSD and it's benefits were discovered by accident in a laboratory back in the 1930’s by Albert Hoffman and was used in clinical research over the next 30 years. It all started when Hoffman was researching something he could use to treat respiratory issues, until he accidentally absorbed some of the drug and begin to experience intense hallucinations. This was in 1938 and it was not until twenty years later that he revisited the drug that it became more widespread to treat an assorted variety of mental health disorders. LSD's benefits were, in-fact, well researched at Johns Hopkins University, a world class medical research institution.
The studies showed that in a strong dose of 200 - 250 mcg, LSD's benefits could help one detach from conventional reality long enough to get in touch with their psyche. It was only when the drug became popular during the Cultural Revolution that the government decided to ban the drug and throw money away in the so-called War on Drugs which was unwinnable at all costs.
So what were some of the benefits of LSD?
Had it not been for the benefits of drugs like LSD, we may have never had such great rock n’ roll music during its heyday in the 1960’s. This was the period known as the British Invasion Era. Have you ever heard the song by The Beatles’ entitled “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”? If you look closely you can see the acronym for LSD, and The Beatles believed in LSD's benefits for enhancing creativity. If you ever listen to the song, you can tell they were singing about an LSD experience. It is one of their few songs that does not make any sense, yet has a good melody just the same.
One of the benefits of LSD is that it gets you in touch with your psyche. This has unlimited power to release an artistic creative person’s creative potential. There was another song by the four man band from Liverpool, England that was titled “Strawberry Fields Forever” that was recorded during an acid trip.
Benefits of Enhanced Creativity with LSD
In another scenario, there was a female who had an idea for an experiment with an artistic friend who used LSD for it's benefits to creativity. This girl sat and observed her artistic friend draw a series of self-portraits for about ten hours just to see what would happen as time went along. The first 15 minutes, the artist drew like she normally did. You could not tell she had just taken the minimum dose of 200 mcg which would induce hallucinations. During the next half hour she could draw self-portraits without even watching herself in a mirror.
Over the next hour, the artist’s colors start to become more vibrant. Also the hair she is drawing is getting longer. The self-portraits start to come alive with color at a quarter past two hours and by three and a half, she is no longer drawing in any eyes on her little hand-drawn selfie. After six hours and over a half-dozen self-portraits, the artist on LSD gives up on the black pencil and everything is in color.
At eight hours, the artist and her observant friend are listening to Pink Floyd in the dark and she is still drawing herself. Her picture is wearing a costume mask over her eyes by the looks of the painting. After nine hours, the artistic person was no longer able to draw what was inside of her head because, as she said it, there was just too much going on outside of her own head.
As you can see from the strung out artist and the Beatles’, they totally reinvented themselves while under the influence of LSD due to it's multiple benefits. The Beatles’ started experimenting with the benefits of LSD during the mid-1960. This was about the height of their career 50 years ago around this time. As for the self-portrait, it was more colorful and vibrant. The latter revealed the creative potential that we are all capable of when we get in touch with our inner psyche and get away from the hustle and bustle of what is known as normative consensus reality. The benefits of psychedelic drugs like LSD have the capabilities to show us who we really and what we are capable of without having it suppressed by conforming to the demands of everyday life.
The History of LSD
The discovery of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) and LSD's benefits is a compelling and fascinating story. Its history is full of serendipitous events, curious research, and impassioned scientists researching the benefits of LSD. Essential to its astute application for mental LSD's mental health benefits in the field of psychotherapy is the respect and passion demonstrated by researchers and intellectuals for the power and potential of the benefits of LSD. Many scientists, aware and fully conscious of its great power to open the mind to new spaces, understood the importance of using it in a controlled, therapeutic setting. The eventual popularization of LSD's benefits as a party drug in the 1960s prompted a deep social fear that created a discourse of demonization and ignorance. Social scientists attribute this fear to the fact that LSD's benefits include reframing the way the user sees the world, prompting a deep incentive to question and change systems of authority and government institutions. By the 1970s, the culture of fear built around LSD's benefits was enough for the US government to classify it as a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive categorization, characterizing it with a high potential for abuse and no legitimate medical purpose. The most unfortunate result of this is that important, responsible, and potentially healing research into the benefits of LSD was halted while its short-sighted use continued without any safety or support structure for the user. Today, there are strong efforts to change the erroneous narrative on LSD and the global drug policies that prevent its responsible use for psychological treatment to the benefit of those in need.
LSD's Benefits & History: Ergot Research, Arthur Stoll, and Albert Hofmann
Stumbling upon LSD and it's benefits began with research into the isolated compounds of ergot, a fungal disease that appears on rye grains and other types of cereals. Consumption of ergot-plighted grains causes severe poisoning, gangrene, and symptoms of psychosis. In 1917, Arthur Stoll was working at Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratories in Switzerland and found that the isolated compounds of ergot: ergatomine and ergobasine, in controlled doses, could be used to constrict blood-vessels without any of the deleterious symptoms of ergotism. Further research showed lysergic acid as the common thread in all derived compounds of ergot. More than a decade later, Albert Hofmann began work at Sandoz. Hofmann synthesized the active compounds in ergot with several other organic molecules. On the twenty-fifth synthesis, he combined lysergic acid with a derived compound of ammonia –diethylamine. What started out as research into migraine treatment resulted in the discovery of a drug that would change the way we think about our minds and the way we approach therapy and healing. On April 16th, 1943, while handling a synthesis of LSD-25, Hofmann accidentally ingested a small amount. He asked an assistant to accompany him home because he began to feel “a peculiar restlessness.” The tale of his bike ride home is probably the most popularly cited anecdote of the day the power of LSD and it's potential benefits was discovered.
LSD's Benefits - Psychological Research on Schizophrenia and Alcoholism
Shipments of LSD-25 were sent to psychotherapy research centers in England, Canada, the US, and Czechoslovakia to learn more about it's benefits. Perhaps the most salient story of LSD's research into it's benefits takes place in Saskatchewan with doctors Humphry Osmond and Abram Hoffer. Osmond and Hoffer found that LSD attributes immense significance to things that otherwise seem mundane. It highly magnifies one’s awareness of energies and makes accessible new ways of considering our existence. Osmond comments that LSD's benefits includes giving “special significance” to all textures and colors, problematizing all things, in a sense. Humphry relocated from England to Saskatchewan to work at Weyburn mental hospital, serving patients with schizophrenia. The main incentive behind supplementing therapy for deeply ill schizophrenia sufferers was the theory that LSD's benefits includes allowing one to feel a semblance of what the schizophrenic patient experiences when going through an episode of what Osmond describes as losing the ability “to hold the world constant.” Perhaps the most interesting part of Osmond and Hoffer’s experimentation with LSD's benefits is that their main objective was to produce Schizophrenic-like symptoms in themselves to catalyze greater understanding and empathy for their patients. This point further bolsters the idea that LSD's benefits includes forming palpable emotional links among human beings, endowing people with better abilities to exert compassion and motivating them to help others. Both Hoffer and Osmond attest to the fact that taking LSD produced benefits, which included making them much more aware of what happens in the minds of schizophrenic patients, allowing them to consider the accounts of their experiences more seriously.
Next, Hoffer and Osmond, along with Professor of Psychology Duncan Blewett, conducted a study of 500 patients with severe alcoholism. While their initial intention was to correlate the alcohol with an extremely unpleasant and terrifying experience produced by LSD, Osmond and Hoffer found something altogether different and pleasantly unexpected. Instead of helping patients develop a disdain for alcohol, the LSD did something much more beneficial and effective at producing lasting change in the alcoholic’s frames of thought and behaviors. LSD's benefits included prompting fundamental shifts in the alcoholics’ deep seated resignation to their drug of choice. Osmond illustrates the similar way in which LSD magnifies, and thus provides easy access to, different ways of viewing one’s existence. The benefit of LSD treatment managed to draw the alcoholic patient out of their harmful, petrified modes of thinking, and helped them see, making them very aware of the shortcomings caused by their prioritization of alcohol. The substance, supplemented with guided therapy, inspired the patients to feel “a powerful incentive” to change their habits.
LSD's Benefits: Spiritual Realization
Sometime after Hoffer and Osmond were conducting studies on LSD's benefits as a supplement to therapy, an entrepreneur and self-described visionary named Alfred Hubbard began championing LSD's benefits for the purpose of spiritual growth and self-knowledge. Hubbard strongly believed that LSD's benefits were meant to change mankind because of it helped people “resolve inner conflict” and reach deeper levels of self-understanding. Hubbard’s main focus in establishing a foundation dedicated to investigating LSD was more subjective in comparison to the psychological research carried out in Saskatchewan. Nonetheless, Hoffer and Osmond formed part of the foundation’s board. Later, Aldous Huxley was inspired to write his famous book The Doors of Perception after befriending Humphry Osmond and having experienced a beneficial LSD session. Huxley was also inspired by Hubbard’s endeavor to set up LSD treatment centers around the world. The idea was that a candidate would write down a short summary of their lives and relationships before ingesting LSD in a controlled setting, with people nearby for support and music playing in the background. This kind of approach was specifically designed to catalyze the spiritual wisdom sought after by the participant. Hubbard, as well as Huxley, emphasized the importance of intention. The benefits of exploration on LSD are tapped into if the person consciously desired to try LSD for its potential to expand understanding. This idea of preparation and intention, and the feeling that LSD self-exploration should be seen as a “serious, experimental ritual,” is what marks the difference between the scientific and spiritual use of LSD and the forthcoming popularization of the substance.
LSD's Benefits vs. Misguided Use of LSD
The common sentiment underlying statements by scientists and researchers is that the use of LSD for pleasure and partying, or, as in the case of the US army –as a weapon, is a gross misuse of something powerful, with great teaching potential. Again, the importance of set and setting is highlighted to remark on the fact that careless use of LSD is not effective for someone to truly grasp what the substance may teach them, but it can also be extremely unpleasant without a non-threatening setting and people around that are meant to provide support should someone need it. In 1961, members of the Harvard psychedelic club began conducting research on psychedelics with a broad array of projects. However, the institution cancelled their project after becoming concerned over the growing media attention now widely attributed to Timothy Leary. Stanislav Grof and Abram Hoffer both expressed that they hold Leary partially accountable for the eventual prohibition of scientific LSD research and its subsequent proliferation as a common street and party substance.
By the mid-1960s, the widespread use of LSD and the counter-culture movements going on simultaneously, made it easier to place culpability on the drug itself for the civil unrest propelled by the civil rights, feminist, anti-war, and ecology movements. The US government grew weary of LSD’s capacity to foment profound incentive in young people to question and speak out against government actions. In 1970, Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act, placing LSD as a Schedule I drug –prohibiting its use for medical and scientific research.
The Future of LSD and it's Benefits in Psychology
Recently, perhaps the most exciting news is the founding of a non-profit organization called EmmaSofia in Norway. Neuroscientist Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen started the project in hopes of building a global cultural understanding of the healing value of and benefits of LSD and other psychedelics. Their objective is to allow doctors, and the general public, access to regulated, quality controlled LSD and psychedelics for a variety of beneficial purposes. Mainly, the goal is to treat people with post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and drug addiction –but there is also cultural value in allowing some kind of regulated access to society in general. The driving point is that current global drug policy in fact harms public safety and hinders the ability for so many people to heal from debilitating emotional and psychological afflictions. There are so many previous studies that attest to the enormous benefits of LSD and the hope is that highlighting these benefits will change the popular discourse on LSD to one that views it as a human right for those suffering needlessly. This could be the start of a promising forthcoming chapter in the history of LSD (Conclusion of Section 1, by Sofia Vidal).
Exploring LSD's Benefits and Spirituality: What to Expect
When many people think about LSD, they think about seeing dragons or witnessing their friends melt in front of them. However, for decades, many people have used LSD's benefits to have a spiritual experience. This drug has potent effects on the mind that allow people to get in touch with their most spiritual side. However, you need to understand exactly how it works, so that you can decide if using LSD's beneficial effects to connect with your spiritual side is the right idea for you. You also need to ensure that you know what to expect.
To use LSD's benefits to enhance your spirituality, you want to understand more about how LSD's benefits work, so that you know something about what can happen during your experience. This works to remove your fear so that you can put your focus on relaxing and having the deep spiritual experience you are aiming for.
How Long LSD's Side Effects Last
When you use LSD, the effects can occur for as long as 12 hours. After you take the drug, you typically start to notice the effects in approximately 30 minutes. You should be prepared to experience the effects for 12 hours even though they can last for far less time. You want to make sure that you are in a place where you will be safe for the duration of the drug’s effects. Many experts agree that you should have a “babysitter” to be with you so that if anything goes wrong during your time experiencing the drug’s effects, they will be there to help.
How Does LSD and It's Benefits Work?
Right now, experts do not fully understand the hallucinogenic properties of LSD's benefits or how it works in the brain. However, they believe that this drug has the power to encourage free thoughts due to the drug essentially switching off the parts of the brain that work to constrain consciousness. There is a clear increase in brain activity and this leads to your imagination becoming more overactive. Some experts, however, state that LSD's beneficial effects are a result of it's interaction with the serotonin receptors in the brain, interrupting or enhancing the brain’s chemical messengers.
All of the above has been noted on MRI imaging studies of people who have taken LSD. When it comes to the serotonin receptors in the brain, there are 15 of them. LSD has a specific activating effects on the 5HT-2A subtype receptor. This works to control your impulses and it plays a role in your cognitive processes. LSD works to over-stimulate these serotonin receptor sites in your brain, which disrupts conventional perception circuits. This allows for a free flow of thought, allowing you to get in touch with your spiritual side.
LSD's Beneficial Effects on the Brain
There is a brain chemical that can mimic psychosis and LSD has a similar chemical structure to it. This is what causes your altered perception and sensory, indescribable emotions and images and uncontrolled memory retrieval. These effects are responsible for your ability to see and imagine things that are not really there and this is important for spirituality. You need your mind to have the ability to be open to things that it would not be under normal circumstances, allowing you to go somewhere that will allow you to be more free and open to the world.
There is the potential for a “bad trip,” but most people do have a deep and good experience when using LSD in a beneficial manner. Be with someone you trust who will be sober when you go into an LSD trip. You also want to make sure that you go into in a good mood and with an open mind. Some people say that your mood when you take LSD has a significant influence on what you can experience when you are using the drug. You also want to go into your trip focusing on having a positive spiritual experience.
Now you have a better idea as to how LSD works to enhance your spiritual connection. It is a good idea to speak to someone who has experience with using LSD for spirituality so that you can learn the proper way to do it. This is important because you have to be in the right place and the right frame of mind to get the best experience possible. Having an experienced person with you ensures that you are doing it right and able to reap the most benefits from using LSD to enhance your spirituality and spiritual experience (Conclusion of Section 2).
The Mood Boosting & Beneficial Effects of LSD
Your mood impacts everything from your success at work or in school to your ability to having meaningful personal relationships. Because of this, you want to take care of your mood and mental health so that it always serves you well. However, some people need a little help to balance and control their mood. There are a number of medications and therapies that are used for this specific purpose, but not everyone responds to them in a favorable way. Since the 1930s, some people have turned to LSD's benefits as a way to elevate and stabilize their mood.
When you think about LSD's benefits, thinking about it being therapeutic is probably not something that crosses your mind, but it has well-established therapeutic benefits. The key is knowing how to use it, how to ensure that you are getting the proper dose and where to use it so that you have a pleasant experience.
Ensuring the Right Dose of LSD for Benefits & Mood Boosting Effects
When you are using LSD's benefits to boost your mood, getting the right dose is the most important part of the process. You should work with someone who is experienced in using LSD for this purpose because they can help you to choose the proper dose. The general dose falls between 10 and 20 micrograms. This is referred to a microdose of LSD. The purpose is not to experience the hallucinatory effects, but to get a positive boost in your mood and enhanced focus and clarity.
When you are using a microdose of LSD for beneficial effects, you typically do not take it daily like you would a prescription medication. In general, people take it about once every four days to reap the benefits. Getting the right dose should be your main priority because if you take too little, you will not get the full benefit of the LSD. However, if you take too much, you can hallucinate and have other negative symptoms that can harm your mood.
How to Use LSD for Benefits in an Environment that Promotes Positive Results
The environment you are in when you use LSD is critical because it sets the stage for the type of experience that you have. For example, if you are in a loud and distracting environment, you might not achieve the full focus-enhancing effects that come with the right microdose of this drug. Choose to be somewhere where you are comfortable and you do not need to drive yourself home. Most people find a quiet place in their home or yard to use LSD.
When you talk to an experienced person, they can help you to set the stage. You also need to go into using LSD's benefits with an open mind so that any negativity is not blocking the positive effects of the drug. When people do go into microdosing this drug feeling anxiety or having a down mood, it is far more difficult for them to experience the positive effects. Doing something like meditating prior to using LSD can help to clear your mind and increase your chances of a positive and mood-boosting experience.
How LSD Works to Boost Your Mood and Alleviate Negative Mental Health Symptoms
One of the initial uses of LSD's benefits was to calm depression and anxiety because this drug has a powerful effect on your mind. When someone properly uses LSD at micro doses, they often report:
- An elevated mood with fewer worries and a general sense of openness
- Enhanced mental and visual acuity
- A greater sense of connection to the environment around them
- Less fear and greater spirituality
- Better response time
- Improved ability to concentrate and focus on what they are working on
- Feeling more in control of their emotions and how they react to situations
Many people report that they feel calm and happy when they use LSD properly. They feel like they have control and that their ability to focus is much greater, ensuring a more stable mood.
As you can see, LSD has beneficial properties to aid in boosting mood and alleviating the symptoms of conditions like anxiety and depression. However, it is critical that you use it properly or else you can actually have a negative experience that can worsen your mood. Talk to someone is who experienced in using LSD for its positive effects. This will ensure that you have the information necessary involving things like proper dosing and knowing how to setup the right environment for using this type of drug. This ensures that you are getting the full benefit (Conclusion of Section 3)
Achieving a Buddhist Experience with LSD
The use of LSD's benefits to achieve a higher level of spirituality is not uncommon and this compound, when used properly, allows people to get in touch with their subconscious. There are several things someone must know to make this possible and proper use and the right setting are critical for a good and deep spiritual experience.
Planning Your Session
There are four primary goals that people have when they work to plan their session. You might have several goals, or just one, depending on your intentions. The following are the four goals that are suggested by classic Hinduism:
Increased personal power, insight into your culture and self, learning, intellectual understanding, improvement of your life situation and professional growth.
- Fun, aesthetic pleasure, pure experience, sensuous enjoyment and interpersonal closeness.
- Duty, providing care, rebirth for fellow men, helping others and rehabilitation.
- Transcendence, attainment of a mystical union and liberation from space-time limits and ego.
Since you are likely taking this journey with other people, you also need to agree on the mode of communication that you will use. You will be in a state of ego transcendence and heightened sensitivity, so having an agreed upon communication method will ensure that there are no misinterpretations.
If you are using LSD's benefits for this experience, so you must properly prepare to take the compound to have the experience that you seek. When you go into this with an open mind and no fear, it is far easier to get to the level of spirituality that you seek.
You need three days to have this experience, so you must plan properly. You should not do this and then head to work the next day. You need time to process and be fully in the moment. The day before you use LSD, you will prepare and work toward opening your mind. The second day is the day that you live your experience and the third day serves as a follow-up to process what you have experienced.
Picking the Right Setting
This is a critical part of the process because you need to be in a place where you can be open and not face any disruptions. You need a place that offers peace and privacy. Noisy neighbors, phone calls and friends stopping by will prevent you from having this experience. Many people choose to do this out in nature, but it must be a place where you feel safe and open.
Most people choose to have this experience in the evening and they say that their experience is much richer and deeper at this time of day. Talk to those you will be having this experience with and agree on a time and a place. You also need to choose the foods you will eat during this experience. Most people do not eat when they are deep within it, but after you want foods that you can enjoy when you have heightened senses, such as fruits, wine and cheese.
Understanding the Experience
How you experience this is highly individualized, but there are a number of things that multiple people report feeling and experiencing. These experiences come when you fully let go of your ego and allow yourself to go deeper into your spirituality. If you do not fully let go of your ego and achieve a completely liberated state, you can experience:
- Bodily pressure
- Body disintegrating
- Extremity tinging
- Nausea
- Feeling cold and clammy and then hot
- Pressure on your ears and head
- Feeling like your body is melting
- Shaking and trembling
Since you want to avoid these sensations, you must be prepared to fully let your ego go. If you experience these, it means that you simply need to clear your mind and allow your mind and body to get to the next phase. This is why it is important to have this experience with someone who understands it and knows what can happen as you allow LSD's benefits to take over and take you to a deeper spiritual place.
While the information presented here will help to get people started, it is best to work with someone who is experienced in using LSD to get to a spiritual experience. This ensures that everything goes smoothly and that you get to the level you require for this experience (Conclusion of Section 4).
Exploring LSD's Benefits as a Treatment for Anxiety
LSD's benefits includes the ability to catalyze mystical and spiritual experiences and this is why some people use it to alleviate their depression. These states allow a person to become better grounded and connected so that they do not experience the fear and panic that typically come with anxiety. Understanding the use of LSD for anxiety is important because simply using the drug is not adequate for alleviating this condition. It is critical that the person uses it properly or else they can experience negative effects that can actually worsen their anxiety. The use of LSD's benefits for anxiety and other mental health troubles dates back to the 1930s. While many people see LSD as a drug that hippies used in the 60s and 70s, the origins of the drug are actually therapeutic. To this day, many people still use LSD as a way to awaken their spiritual side and reduce issues like anxiety and depression.
LSD Benefits & Microdosing to Alleviate Anxiety
Microdosing refers to using a small amount of LSD to achieve a therapeutic effect without experiencing the more psychedelic effects of the drug. Those using this method typically take a microdose of the drug once every four days to alleviate their anxiety and stabilize their mood. This method also appears to have a calming effect while making the world around you more vivid. This works to ensure a more spiritual experience while also keeping your mood under control so that stressors do not have the power to cause an anxiety attack.
It is important to never microdose LSD without first consulting an established professional for instructions on proper dose and usage. However, the general microdose for LSD when used to improve anxiety and spirituality is approximately 10 to 20 micrograms per dose. This does not cause the hallucinatory effect that LSD is known for. However, it does allow someone to have a more open mind and better focus. When you achieve these states, you are less likely to worry or feed burdened by things that previously caused you to experience anxiety and panic feelings.
Proper Use of LSD for Therapeutic Benefit
A small study in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease is unique because it is the first of its kind in four decades. The result from this study concluded that when combined with psychotherapy, LSD in the right amounts and in the right setting is effective and safe for alleviating anxiety in people who have a terminal illness. Scientists speculate that those who do not have a terminal illness, but suffer from anxiety may also have the same benefit. However, due to the problems with legality of LSD, further research has not been pursued.
New York University Tisch Hospital also performed a small study that included 32 patients. They administered 0.3 milligrams per kilogram of the patient’s bodyweight of psilocybin. The patients also received psychotherapy as part of a comprehensive treatment regimen. The psychotherapy was given before the administration of the drug and approximately six to eight hours after administration. After being given the drug and going into their psychotherapy session, the patients stated the following effects:
- Sense of profound calmness
- Sense of profound serenity
- Sense of universal love
- Sense of being in touch with various sacred elements
- Sense of connectivity between the universe and consciousness
- Having mystical experiences
These feelings allowed patients to be more open and able to confront things that would normally cause them anxiety in a calm and controlled manner. They were able to achieve a higher sense of purpose and not be controlled by their fears and worries.
The research studies so far have been small, but the results have been promising prompting researchers to want to do further studies with larger patient pools. As of right now, LSD's benefits include having a good potential for alleviating anxiety when used in the right setting and at the right doses.
As you can see, there is evidence to suggest that LSD might be beneficial for helping to treat anxiety. However, those using this drug for that purpose must understand proper use and the other factors behind ensuring a positive experience. It is generally recommended that people work with someone who is experienced in using LSD as an anxiety treatment so that they can guide you and make sure that you have the best chance at a good experience. This will also help to reduce the risk of any negative effects that are possible during an LSD experience (Conclusion of Section 5).
LSD to Treat Depression and Anxiety
New studies that are based on old research from decades ago shows that the drug Lysergic Acid Diethlymide (LSD) may not be as harmful as the government says it is. This is great news when you consider all of the money that was spent with the war on drugs which was supposed to keep people from using LSD and other recreational drugs, and charging them with crimes if they were. The drug itself was discovered by accident in the laboratory of Albert Hoffman while he was performing research for a respiratory treatment. It seems when he accidentally absorbed enough of the drug to have his own mystical experiences, he decided to look into performing other research when it comes to treating substance abuse and mental health conditions.
How do LSD's Benefits help with symptoms of depression and anxiety?
Research during the 1950’s, just prior to the Cultural Revolution a decade later that was led by Timothy Leary, showed that a standard dose of LSD could invoke beneficial mystical hallucinations that would bring a person into deep contact with their psyche. Those who took part in the research studies said that they encountered traumatic memories from way back in their childhood.
Some of these test subjects even added that the memories were very distressing and can last up to ten hours. In response, one medical professional who was leading the study suggested that some of the memories would not be pleasant but encouraged them, because they would not last long and eventually result in a release of fear. As they say in Anonymous groups, “this too shall pass”. Once they made it through the rough ten hours, they slept off the effects.
How does this drug help with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression? By coming into contact with the deepest part of your psyche, you are forced to face the underlying issue of why you are depressed or anxious in the first place. It is usually in relation to something tragic that happened way back in your childhood. As the years pass, it just gets buried in your subconscious until something else triggers it later in life that either forces you to deal with it or self-medicate through drugs and alcohol.
The process of self-medicating, be it through drugs or alcohol, or even conventional pharmaceuticals is the same thing as basically putting a Band-Aid over it and pretending that the traumatic situation simply never even happened. This can work so well that you never really figure out what the core of your emotional struggles are; thus you end up believing that you merely have an untreatable illness such as addiction or a chemical imbalance like depression.
Once you come in contact with the underlying issue, you will have to deal with it or you will never be able to live a full life that you were meant to have. The vast majority of traumatic experiences in childhood are those that are of a sexual, physically abusive, or emotionally abusive nature. These usually are more likely to get buried in one’s past due to the guilt and shame that the victim experiences. This is especially true if sexual abuse was violent.
Physical abuse is a step above sexual because it is just as traumatic and can leave a person too scared to deal with life challenges. By taking a psychedelic drug like LSD and journeying to the center of their psyche, they can face their fears head on and forgive their abuser so that they can move forward with their life. Emotional abuse can also be very traumatic.
LSD's Benefits: Learning to let go
The end goal of life is to move forward. As a wise, yet humorous saying goes, “we should always look forward because that is the direction that we are always traveling”. However, it is hard to move forward when there is excess baggage which needs to be offloaded somewhere because it is weighing us down. Although everybody has baggage, it is harder to deal with if it is buried deep within our subconscious mind.
This is where medical process like hypnosis and recreational drugs will come in handy. We can open our minds while we look at all the things that happened throughout our life with greater clarity. Some of these things that we see may surprise us because some things have long been forgotten. The biggest benefit of psychedelic and recreational drugs like LSD is that, by bringing all of this “stuff” that was pushed back into our minds to the forefront, it then raises our consciousness up so that we know how to deal with it properly, The end result is that we are now empowered to move forward with our life, hopes, and dreams.
Legal LSD Trip?
Eye-Gazing: A legal hallucinatory experience
Have you ever played the game of stare down? This is where you gaze into someone’s eyes or at their facial features. Did you notice that if you do this long enough, their features may become distorted? After a while you could even start to have hallucinations. For example, your friend’s face can begin to resemble the face of a mountain lion.
There was a case study that involved a study such as this. In the study, well over half (about 75% to be exact) witnessed animals and other monster-like beings that was once where their friend’s face was just a few moments before. Those who conducted the study concluded that the hallucinations represented a brief departure from reality, or dissociation, that was brought about by a manual sensory stimulation from staring too long at a fixed object, such as another human being.
While only 75% witness such monster-like features, another 15% did not see monsters but they did get to see a major deformity in the face of the individual they were staring at. A mere 30% of the entire group did not necessarily see monster-like features, but they did see other types of animals after gazing at the other person for long enough.
There were other strange events that took place aside from hallucinations of mountain lions and other exotic animals. Some of the other strange occurrences involved time slowing down as the two test subjects who were staring at each other felt sort of a “spacey” feeling. Aside from the hallucinations and meditative states, a couple of the participants said it was a very emotional experience with one of them reporting that they cried the entire time.
All you need for a study like this is a dimly lit room and about ten minutes of your time. Also, you will want to make sure that you have a willing participant to perform the study with. If you just walk up to someone in a dimly lit room, you likely will not get too far into the ten minutes before they notify the authorities. Of course you really do not need to stare at another person as you can stare at the wall or even at an inanimate object, such as a rock.
Manual stimulation brought about by a dopamine rush
One individual commented that he started into someone’s eyes for ten minutes and ended up dating the young lady. Next thing they know, they were on a trip to marriage land and having kids and buying a house on top of all that. That was a joke of course, but the same sensation of losing touch with time and becoming spacey was still there. The manual stimulation brought about by staring at someone or something too long can create a rush in the neurotransmitter Dopamine. This is what leads to loss of contact with reality.
Dopamine is known as the pleasure, or sensory transmitter. Any stimulation causes this neurotransmitter to become excited. This is how severe anxiety can lead to paranoia and cause a Schizophrenic to lose contact with reality once the “fight or flight” response kicks in. As we can see from this study, staring at another human or even an inanimate object too long can cause a head rush. It does not take much for a person to depart from reality. A similar dissociation can take place if you are by yourself in a quiet room and turn the kitchen faucet so that water drips into a pan for about the same length of time as this little stare down game. After a while you could snap or become paranoid and possibly hallucinate.
Although it is nothing compared to the actual taking of the drug LSD for it's benefits, it is by far safer. Of course LSD which is taken in a standard strong dose of 200 mcg can help a person depart reality just long enough to get in touch with his own psyche in an effort to discover what makes him or her tick. The main reason for the prohibition of LSD, even with it's benefits, was because the government believed it was the only way to keep people from using too much of the drug. After years of wasting money prohibiting this drug, they are finally realizing that people are going to find ways to steal it and abuse it for their own temporary highs no matter what the law may be. This may lead to bringing back the use of LSD in a more controlled setting so that patients who are under the care of a doctor can experience the more positive benefits of LSD, if they use it right at the recommended dose.
Authors: Combined Article Content from Sofia Vidal, Erwin Wooten, and Rosemary Kitchen
References (Assorted):
http://www.newser.com/story/comments/211797/staring-into-a-persons-eyes-is-like-taking-lsd.html
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/08/the-truth-about-lsd-research-reveals-many-therapeutic-and-medicinal-benefits/
htbtp://aplus.com/a/drawing-self-portraits-on-lsd-trip
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-she-said-she-said/
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-accidental-discovery-of-lsd/379564/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/new-science-lsd-therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpSLjdPiSH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBgiEyUA5LA
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/hofmann.htm
https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/hubbard_al/hubbard_al.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/world/europe/an-uphill-campaign-in-norway-to-promote-lsd-as-a-human-right.html?_r=0
http://ibtimes.com/can-lsd-reduce-anxiety-first-human-trial-decades-shows-potential-benefits-psychedelic-drug-1559511
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/lsd-anxiety-study-psychotherapy-_n_4906596.html
http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/2014/07000/Safety_and_Efficacy_of_Lysergic_Acid.1.aspx
http://www.inforefuge.com/psychedelic-experience
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/821971
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/pahnke3.htm
