LSD and Other Psychedelics Not Linked With Mental Health Problems, Analysis Suggests

Science Daily

Aug. 19, 2013 — The use of LSD, magic mushrooms, or peyote does not increase a person's risk of developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from more than 130,000 randomly chosen people, including 22,000 people who had used psychedelics at least once.

Researcher Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Neuroscience, used data from a US national health survey to see what association there was, if any, between psychedelic drug use and mental health problems.

The authors found no link between the use of psychedelic drugs and a range of mental health problems. Instead they found some significant associations between the use of psychedelic drugs and fewer mental health problems.

The results are published in the journal PLOS ONE and are freely available online after 19 August.

Symptoms and mental health treatment considered

The researchers relied on data from the 2001-2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which participants were asked about mental health treatment and symptoms of a variety of mental health conditions over the past year. The specific symptoms examined were general psychological distress, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychosis.

Armed with this information, Krebs and Johansen were able to examine if there were any associations between psychedelic use and general or specific mental health problems. They found none.

"After adjusting for other risk factors, lifetime use of LSD, psilocybin, mescaline or peyote, or past year use of LSD was not associated with a higher rate of mental health problems or receiving mental health treatment," says Johansen.

Could psychedelics be healthy for you?

The researchers found that lifetime use of psilocybin or mescaline and past year use of LSD were associated with lower rates of serious psychological distress. Lifetime use of LSD was also significantly associated with a lower rate of outpatient mental health treatment and psychiatric medicine prescription.

The design of the study makes it impossible to determine exactly why the researchers found what they found.

"We cannot exclude the possibility that use of psychedelics might have a negative effect on mental health for some individuals or groups, perhaps counterbalanced at a population level by a positive effect on mental health in others," they wrote.

Nevertheless, "recent clinical trials have also failed to find any evidence of any lasting harmful effects of psychedelics," the researchers said, which supports the robustness of the PLOS ONE findings.

In fact, says Krebs, "many people report deeply meaningful experiences and lasting beneficial effects from using psychedelics."

"Other studies have found no evidence of health or social problems among people who had used psychedelics hundreds of times in legally-protected religious ceremonies," adds Johansen.

What's the bottom line on psychedelic use?

Psychedelics are different than most other recreational drugs. Experts agree that psychedelics do not cause addiction or compulsive use, and they are not known to harm the brain.

When evaluating psychedelics, as with any activity, it is important to take an objective view of all the evidence and avoid being biased by anecdotal stories either of harm or benefit, the researchers say.

"Everything has some potential for negative effects, but psychedelic use is overall considered to pose a very low risk to the individual and to society," Johansen says, "Psychedelics can elicit temporary feelings of anxiety and confusion, but accidents leading to serious injury are extremely rare."

"Early speculation that psychedelics might lead to mental health problems was based on a small number of case reports and did not take into account either the widespread use of psychedelics or the not infrequent rate of mental health problems in the general population," Krebs explains.

"Over the past 50 years tens of millions of people have used psychedelics and there just is not much evidence of long-term problems," she concludes.

Both researchers were supported by the Research Council of Norway.[/QUOTE]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130819185302.htm
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^Yeah, it depends on what you consider "mind-expanding." For the sake of utility and the categorical faculty of language I think we should only call serotonergic compounds, "psychedelics," with 5HT2a agonism as a necessary inclusion criteria. I think we should also have a new word for what salvia does since by this rationale it's an opiate, heh. I wouldn't look to latin or greek for salvia -fixes though, maybe Martian. Seriously, though, if new terms are coined for anything it should be for drug experiences, as they've got to belong to the most novel and distinct realms of experience that humans might want to articulate these days. Gotta dose the punch at Webster's company picnic...

 

there *are* no 'mental health problems' to be linked to in the first place!​

 ¡no hay exista!

¡¡¡es simplemente!!!​

​

||| 2 ree fray(z) |||

dare dar *(d)no* men tall hell(th) prob lemz 2 b ling(k)d 2 inn d fir(st) play(ss)!​

 ¡no hay neenGOONA!

¡¡¡eees simplessimenntay!!!​

X

​

 

A big thank you to Krebs and Johansen for their great work.

 

the only people i've seen directly suffer from psychoactives a)those who have chomped a bit of cardboard when fatigued, say for example: going out to an event (a concert say on a friday night) after a full week of work (why not prep or at least rest first as you would before any other adventure?), b) them whose ideas of themselves are unrealistic (people who think they're something they aren't, ie: may range from i am mildly charismatic to i am a superhero, etc), or c) trippers who become the victims of an insecure or dangerous environment.
i must admit that from the perspective of of responsibility i view a) and c) as subcategories of b), in other words if you've attempted an adventure when you're not up to it or if you've allowed yourself to fall into an adventure you're not capable of handling then clearly you needed a reality check and may yet benefit from your adventure should you survive it so i guess you should just pray you've not harmed anyone else on your journey.

if i were the boss of it i would convert a Ilyushin or Hercules into crop dusters, load them with LSD, MDA, or 2CB, and have them fly regular circuits of the globe!

 

Nice.

 

Not in this day and age. As long as it's accurate to about 10 mics and between 100-125 I'm happy to take that for my first time.

Yes, the trend over the last 20 or so years has been about 90-100 mikes per blotter, but it is much more difficult to be sure you have legit L nowadays. That has been the standard for quite some time.

PS... I know about the deep web. What I am not so sure about is the listening describing exact dosage of the blotter itself. Very few people have actual access to LSD crystal.

 

Was worried about trying LSD because of me potentially having some underlying mental health shit, because my mental health isn't always top form. But this article has made me want to try it.

In a safe, comfortable environment with two people I trust of course. Probably gonna get some 125mic tabs and do one.

I'll also have some alprazolam on standby.

This study had a retrospective, cross-sectional design, making it impossible to draw causal inferences.

 

So... I am extremely perplexed by the outcome of mathematics here.
2.3% of users felt a force taking over there mind while 0.9% of non-users responded feeling the force taking over their mind.
This is what they say in their report: "... lifetime psychedelic use was significantly associated with a lower rate of one of the seven psychotic symptoms (“Felt a force taking over your mind”: aOR 0.7, p = 0.03)."
Sorry, but am I stupid or did this report print it backwards??? 0.9 < 2.3 right???
Am I seeing this right?

 

I call bullshit. Acid, and Marijuana managed too jack my sh*t up for the long term.

 

So... I am extremely perplexed by the outcome of mathematics here.
2.3% of users felt a force taking over there mind while 0.9% of non-users responded feeling the force taking over their mind.
This is what they say in their report: "... lifetime psychedelic use was significantly associated with a lower rate of one of the seven psychotic symptoms (&#8220;Felt a force taking over your mind&#8221;: aOR 0.7, p = 0.03)."
Sorry, but am I stupid or did this report print it backwards??? 0.9 < 2.3 right???
Am I seeing this right?

Perhaps somebody can explain the concept of "adjusted odds ratio" and how it was used in this study. I imagine they have to correct for a great many factors, and that this figures into it. I've never taken stats, so I'd like to know too.

 

Hallucinogenic health trip: LSD may not be bad for you, says study

Independent

Tony Paterson
Wednesday 04 September 2013

With reader comments

‘Not much evidence’ for long-term problems over the past 50 years, Norwegian researchers conclude.

The late acid guru Dr Timothy Leary would doubtless have claimed to have known it all along, but after conducting an exhaustive study on tens of thousands of Americans, a team of Norwegian scientists has concluded that LSD may actually be good for you. Researchers Pal-Orjan Johansen and Teri Krebs from Norway’s University of Science and Technology in Trondheim examined American drug-use surveys carried out between 2001 and 2004 on over 130,000 US citizens, of which 22,000 had used a psychedelic drug such as LSD at least once in their lives. The results may not amount to an appeal to “turn on, tune in and drop out”, but they appear to overturn the opinion long-held in parts of the medical establishment that LSD and other “mind-enhancing” drugs automatically result in debilitating flashbacks, uncontrollable paranoia attacks and a desire to leap off buildings.

In the science journal PLOS One, Mr Johansen and Mrs Krebs wrote: “There were no significant associations between lifetime use of any psychedelics, or use of LSD in the past year, and an increased rate of mental health problems. Rather, in several cases psychedelic use was associated with a lower rate of mental health problems.”

In an interview with Norway’s English-language news website, The Local, Mr Johansen said that expert studies which attempt to discover whether psychedelic drugs such as LSD, mescaline and the “magic mushroom” drug psilocybin are harmful had not demonstrated that they caused chronic health problems. “Everything has some risk; psychedelics can elicit temporary feelings of anxiety and confusion, but accidents leading to serious injury are extremely rare,” Mrs Krebs told the website. “Over the past 50 years, tens of millions of people have used psychedelics and there is just not much evidence of long-term problems,” she added.The scientists claimed the notion that LSD and other psychedelic substances damaged mental health stemmed from a small number of case reports on patients who were already suffering from some form of mental illness. They added that both psychedelic drug use and the onset of mental illness tended to occur in late adolescence, which in the past had led researchers to wrongly attribute mental problems to LSD. “Both mental illness and psychedelic drug use are prevalent in the population, which likely leads to many chance associations,” Mr Johansen said.

More...
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...ay-not-be-bad-for-you-says-study-8798900.html

 

Daily Mail

'LSD could be good for you': Hallucinogens 'wrongly linked with mental health problems for years' study says

By Amanda Williams
PUBLISHED: 03:28, 5 September 2013

With reader comments

• Study of drugs surveys on effects of LSD on tens of thousands of Americans
• LSD linked with flashbacks, paranoia and long term mental health problems
• But Norwegian researchers said 'no evidence to link with health problems'

Hallucinogenic drugs may actually be good for you, a team of researchers has concluded. Norwegian scientists have carried out extensive research on the effects of LSD - or trips - by studying drugs surveys from tens of thousands of Americans. The findings are at odds with the long held belief that LSD and other 'mind-enhancing' drugs - such as mescaline and the drug psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms - result in flashbacks, paranoia and long term mental health problems.

Researchers Pal-Orjan Johansen and Teri Krebs from Norway’s University of Science and Technology in Trondheim examined the drug taking habits of more than 130,000 American citizens between 2001 and 2004.

Last year the duo even recommended that LSD could be an effective treatment for alcoholism. Some 22,000 of those surveyed had taken psychedelic drugs at least once. Their findings were published in the science journal PLOS One.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-mental-health-problems-years-study-says.html

 

I did manage to look into this a bit more on my own. Adjusted ratios are calculated are essentially dividing the percents.
For example Panic disorder 16.5% for 4018 experienced responders and 8.5% for 10876 inexperienced respondents.
Now the Math : 0.165*4018/[(1-0.165)*4018] / [0.085*10876/[(1-0.085)*10876]] = 2.13
Rather simple. So where did they get 1.0?
That missing piece comes from removing the risk factors other than the psychedelic use. The only thing used to explain this process was, "logarithmic recursion".
Logarithmic recursion is essentially making a laundry list of risks associated with either group (users, non-users) and taking them out.
I question some of the risk factors, since these were responses, such as, have you had a traumatic experience in the last year, and have you taken another drug, and removed those.
Whether the flaw exists is impossible to say, since they do not provide any data on this. There is a book that they referenced which does not contain any risk factor figures. What numbers they used for these risk factors is a big question, also what error these numbers may have.
The other obvious question is that by removing the correlation psychedelic users have with traumatic experiences and with using other drugs, are they perhaps removing things caused by psychedelic use? That would make the entire study a pile of . This missing data makes the study untestable.
I am sure someday this will all be exposed in a more formal manner 8).

 

PLOS one isn't exactly a stellar scientific journal, this studfy would be much more credible and thoughrough if it was published in science or nature

 

Was worried about trying LSD because of me potentially having some underlying mental health shit, because my mental health isn't always top form. But this article has made me want to try it.

In a safe, comfortable environment with two people I trust of course. Probably gonna get some 125mic tabs and do one.

I'll also have some alprazolam on standby.

Even by having Xanax on standby would increase a sub conscious anxiety to come forth.. trust in yourself and you will be fine.

 

lol, they got LSD's molecular structure wrong.

They've drawn a hydrogen instead of the N-6 nitrogen, that molecule just wouldn't work...
who's holding that pen? shame on you.