This paper follows a preliminary communication to this Journal two years ago (Sandison, Spencer and Whitelaw, 1954) and gives an account of the fuller experience gained up to the present time with lysergic acid diethylamide in the treatment of mental illness.
D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD 25) was first prepared in 1938 by Stoll and Hofmann. It is the synthetic amide of d-lysergic acid with a secondary amine, diethylamine and belongs to the ergonovine group of ergot alkaloids all of which have lysergic acid as a base. After its ingestion in minute doses, it induces psychic states in which the subject becomes aware of repressed memories and other...