This is the first of a four-part study (n=24) exploring the effects of a microdose of LSD (5-20µg) on a range of measures, including mood, cognition, empathy, creativity, and physiological parameters. This part of the study found that LSD increased the pain tolerance of participants.
Abstract of A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers
“Background: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is an ergot alkaloid derivative with psychedelic properties that have been implicated in the management of persistent pain. Clinical studies in the 1960s and 1970s have demonstrated profound analgesic effects of full doses of LSD in terminally ill patients, but this line of research evaporated after LSD was scheduled worldwide.
Aim: The present clinical study is the first to revisit the potential of LSD as an analgesic and at dose levels which are not expected to produce profound mind-altering effects.
Methods: Twenty-four healthy volunteers received single doses of 5, 10 and 20 µg LSD as well as a placebo on separate occasions. A Cold Pressor Test was administered at 1.5 and 5 h after treatment administration to assess pain tolerance to experimentally evoked pain. Ratings of dissociation and psychiatric symptoms, as well as assessments of vital signs, were included to monitor mental status as well as safety during treatments.
Results: LSD 20 µg significantly increased the time that participants were able to tolerate exposure to cold (3°C) water and decreased their subjective levels of experienced pain and unpleasantness. LSD elevated mean blood pressure within the normal range and slightly increased ratings of dissociation, anxiety and somatization.
Conclusion: The present study provides evidence of a protracted analgesic effect of LSD at a dose that is low enough to avoid a psychedelic experience. The present data warrant further research into the analgesic effects of low doses of LSD in patient populations.”
Authors: Johannes G. Ramaekers, Nadia Hutten, Natasha L. Mason, Patrick Dolder, Eef L. Theunissen, Friederike Holze, Matthias E. Liechti, Amanda Feilding & Kim P. C. Kuypers
Notes on A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers
This study has also been covered in New Atlas, Futurism, Vice, Unilad and Inverse.
The same subjects were also studied by Hutten et al. (2020a), Holze et al. (2020), and Hutten et al. (2020b).
The study is supported in part by the Beckley Foundation.
Summary of A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a psychedelic compound that was synthesized in 1938. It has been implicated in the management of pain and has been used for the acute and preventive treatment of cluster headaches and other primary headaches.
The use of LSD as an analgesic is based on reports of self-medication, and recent surveys suggest that LSD may be effective for treating cluster headaches and migraines.
LSD, an ergot alkaloid derivative with psychedelic properties, has been implicated in the management of persistent pain, but clinical studies have evaporated after LSD was scheduled worldwide.
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A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers
https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881120940937
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Cite this paper (APA)
Ramaekers, J. G., Hutten, N., Mason, N. L., Dolder, P., Theunissen, E. L., Holze, F., ... & Kuypers, K. P. (2021). A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 35(4), 398-405.
Study details
Compounds studied
LSD
Topics studied
Pain
Microdosing
Study characteristics
Original
Placebo-Controlled
Double-Blind
Within-Subject
Randomized
Participants
24
Humans
Authors
Authors associated with this publication with profiles on Blossom
Johannes RamaekersJohannes Ramaekers is a professor at Maastricht University his work focuses on behavioral toxicology of drugs and combines methods from psychopharmacology, forensic toxicology and neuroscience to determine drug-induced changes in human performance. Some of this research is done with DMT.
Mason Marks
Mason Marks is an assistant professor of law at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. He is a senior fellow and project lead of the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. In 2021, he was appointed to the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board, which advises the Oregon Health Authority on rules for the state's emerging psilocybin industry.
Matthias Liechti
Matthias Emanuel Liechti is the research group leader at the Liechti Lab at the University of Basel.
Amanda Feilding
Amanda is the Founder and Director of the Beckley Foundation. She's called the 'hidden hand' behind the renaissance of psychedelic science, and her contribution to global drug policy reform has also been pivotal and widely acknowledged.
Kim Kuypers
Kim Kuypers is a researcher at Maastricht University. Her work is concerned with understanding the neurobiology underlying flexible cognition, empathy, and well-being. One of the main ways she does is with the use of psychedelics.
Institutes
Institutes associated with this publication
Beckley FoundationThe Beckley Foundation is one of the leading voices that has spurred the scientific renaissance of psychedelics research. Led by Amanda Fielding, the NGO funds research and engages with politicians.
Maastricht University
Maastricht University is host to the psychopharmacology department (Psychopharmacology in Maastricht) where various researchers are investigating the effects of psychedelics.
University of Basel
The University of Basel Department of Biomedicine hosts the Liechti Lab research group, headed by Matthias Liechti.
Compound Details
The psychedelics given at which dose and how many times
LSD 5 - 20μg | 3x
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