Anxiety seeps into daily life. It disrupts focus at work, strains relationships, and turns even small tasks into stress triggers. Standard treatments are available, but they do not work for everyone.
Many people cannot tolerate antidepressants in the long term, while others see no real relief. This gap has researchers asking a bold question: can psychedelics like LSD help?
LSD tested for anxiety
A research team at MindMed in New York recently carried out the first modern trial of LSD for generalised anxiety disorder. The goal was to test whether a single dose could reduce symptoms when standard care fails.
LSD is famous for its hallucinogenic effects, but scientists believe it does more. It boosts serotonin, a chemical that influences mood, and may help the brain form new thought patterns that break cycles of fear and worry.
Why current anxiety care fails
Generalized anxiety disorder goes far beyond occasional stress. It causes constant, broad worry about money, relationships, health, and even everyday routines.
Current treatment usually combines therapy with drugs such as SSRIs. These options help some people, but many experience only modest improvement or none at all. Others cannot handle side effects like emotional numbness.
The fact that antidepressants only work while taken daily adds another layer of frustration.
LSD reduces anxiety symptoms
The study included 198 adults diagnosed with severe anxiety. Participants gradually stopped their medications before entering the trial, though those already in therapy continued.
The individuals rated their symptoms – such as worry, tension, and poor focus – on a standard scale. Average scores were 30 out of 56, well above the threshold that defines severe anxiety.
Participants were randomly split into five groups. Four groups received LSD in doses from 25 to 200 micrograms. One group received placebo pills.
The results were striking. Those who took 100 or 200 micrograms felt noticeable relief within a day.
A month later, their anxiety scores had dropped by about 20 points, and nearly half reached remission. In contrast, the lower doses offered no more benefit than the placebo.
The placebo effect
Even the placebo group improved somewhat. Their scores dropped by 14 to 17 points, and one in five achieved remission.
This outcome is common in anxiety studies, where the attention, care, and expectation built into a trial provide comfort.
Still, the higher-dose LSD groups clearly outperformed placebo group, showing that the drug itself delivered an additional benefit.
Side effects and complications
The trial also revealed side effects. Some participants reported nausea or headaches within hours of taking the drug. Hallucinations and changes in visual perception were more common at higher doses.
Many participants guessed correctly whether they had received LSD, making it harder to fully separate the psychological impact of knowing from the direct biological effects.
Yet the size of the improvement left researchers confident that LSD was responsible for more than expectation alone.
LSD for anxiety relief
Independent reviewers described the results as a major step forward. They considered the reductions in anxiety both statistically solid and clinically meaningful.
In plain terms, the drug offered relief big enough to make daily life easier, not just a small change on paper.
The experts emphasized that such outcomes matter most when improvements translate into real-world functioning, allowing people to work, connect socially, and manage daily responsibilities with far less distress and uncertainty.
What lies ahead
The findings convinced regulators as well. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted LSD therapy from MindMed a special status that speeds development of drugs with strong potential.
Larger and longer trials are now in progress, designed to track benefits beyond three months and to untangle whether improvements come mainly from brain chemistry or from the psychological weight of the psychedelic experience.
Lasting relief from a single dose
LSD is not ready to become a mainstream treatment. Outside of controlled studies, it can be unpredictable and sometimes risky. But this research adds to the growing evidence that psychedelics may hold medical value that was once dismissed.
For people with anxiety who gain little from standard care, the idea of lasting relief from a single dose represents more than hope – it signals a possible shift in how we think about treatment.
Researchers emphasize the need for ongoing trials to confirm safety, clarify long-term effects, and establish appropriate dosing. Still, the growing evidence points to a future where psychiatry could move beyond conventional medications and embrace once-unthinkable psychedelic-based therapies.
The study is published in the journal JAMA.
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