Does LSD confer lasting psychological resilience? an investigation of naturalistic users experiencing job loss.
PLoS One 2024 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304991 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 5,067,553 |
| Population | Unemployed, job-seeking individuals experiencing job loss in the United States |
| Topics | LSD |
| Keywords | Psychedelics Mental health Unemployment Psychological resilience Drug effects |
| Key findings | LSD use prior to job loss was associated with a higher likelihood of severe psychological distress following job loss, failing to support the idea of LSD-conferred psychological resilience. |
Abstract
Recent studies on classic psychedelics have suggested that their use is associated with psychological strengths and resilience, thereby conferring users a type of psychological protection relative to non-users. However, this idea has been brought into question by recent findings suggesting that lifetime users of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) report worse mental health during stressful experiences. The current study addresses these mixed findings by examining whether LSD use prior to a stressful experience buffers against the psychological distress experienced in the wake of the stressful experience. This study draws on openly-available data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2008-2019) on 5,067,553 (weighted) unemployed, job seeking individuals experiencing job loss. Using purposeful respondent exclusion criteria to establish temporal precedence of the variables under investigation, this study offers a straightforward test of whether LSD use confers psychological resilience to naturalistic users. LSD use prior to job loss was associated with a higher likelihood of severe psychological distress following job loss, regardless of whether sociodemographic variables were controlled for or not. In sum, this study fails to find evidence for LSD-conferred psychological resilience in naturalistic users in the wake of a stressful experience.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on LSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increased Global Functional Connectivity Correlates with LSD-Induced Ego Dissolution. Human participants | 2016 | Observational cohort | |
| Increased spontaneous MEG signal diversity for psychoactive doses of ketamine, LSD and psilocybin Humans | 2017 | Observational study | |
| Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population. USA adult respondents from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2008-2012) | 2015 | Observational cohort | n = 190,000 |
| Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: A population study Randomly selected United States adults | 2015 | Observational cohort | n = 135,095 |
| Whole-Brain Multimodal Neuroimaging Model Using Serotonin Receptor Maps Explains Non-linear Functional Effects of LSD. Healthy human participants | 2018 | Observational study with computational modeling |
Citations in the library
Cites 20
- Psychedelics and the essential importance of context. Journal of Psychopharmacology February 15, 2018
- Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 19, 2017
- Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population. Journal of Psychopharmacology March 1, 2015
- Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study PLoS One August 19, 2013
- Psychedelics and connectedness Psychopharmacology August 9, 2017
and 15 more in the library