SuicidalitySchizophreniaSafety & Risk ManagementLSD

Neurotoxicity and LSD treatment: a follow-up study of 151 patients in Denmark

This historic archive case study assessed the reports of 151 patients out of a 400 patient cohort who received treatment with LSD between 1960-73 (without psychotherapy) and who received financial compensation for LSD-inflicted harm in accordance with Danish law. The applicants reported an immediate deterioration of their condition and severe long-term effects.

Authors

Larsen, J. K.

Published

March 10, 2016

History of Psychiatry

individual Study

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Abstract

LSD was introduced in psychiatry in the 1950s. Between 1960 and 1973, nearly 400 patients were treated with LSD in Denmark. By 1964, one homicide, two suicides and four suicide attempts had been reported. In 1986 the Danish LSD Damages Law was passed after complaints by only one patient. According to the Law, all 154 applicants received financial compensation for LSD-inflicted harm. The Danish State Archives has preserved the case material of 151 of the 154 applicants. Most of the patients suffered from severe side effects of the LSD treatment many years afterwards. In particular, two-thirds of the patients had flashbacks. With the recent interest in LSD therapy, we should consider the neurotoxic potential of LSD.

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Research Summary of 'Neurotoxicity and LSD treatment: a follow-up study of 151 patients in Denmark'

Introduction

Larsen frames the study against the historical backdrop of LSD's introduction into psychiatry in the 1950s and its rapid uptake at research and clinical centres in Scandinavia. Early enthusiasm for LSD as an aid to psychotherapy and as a model psychosis coexisted with sporadic reports of serious adverse events, including homicide, suicide and persistent perceptual disturbances. Debate about the long-term safety of clinical LSD use persisted into the 1970s; in Denmark, preserved case material and later political and legal activity culminated in the 1986 LSD Damages Law, which allowed treated patients to apply for compensation under a reversed burden of proof (treatment deemed the cause of harm unless another cause was more likely). This paper sets out to use the case records held in the Danish State Archives to evaluate long-term outcomes after LSD treatment in Denmark. Larsen aimed to describe both potential benefits and harms decades after exposure, and specifically to seek evidence bearing on the alleged neurotoxic potential of LSD by analysing the case material of patients who had applied for compensation under the 1986 law.

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Study Details

Study Type
individual
Journal
History of Psychiatry
Compound
LSD
Topics
Suicidality Schizophrenia Safety & Risk Management
APA Citation
Larsen, J. K. (2016). Neurotoxicity and LSD treatment: a follow-up study of 151 patients in Denmark. History of Psychiatry, 27(2), 172-189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154x16629902