The "Bad Trip"—The Etiology of the Adverse LSD Reaction
J. Thomas Ungerleider, Duke D. Fisher, Marielle Fuller, Alex Caldwell
American Journal of Psychiatry May 1, 1968 DOI: 10.1176/ajp.124.11.1483 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case-control study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 50 |
| Population | Psychiatric inpatients hospitalized after LSD ingestion and regular LSD users without reported difficulty |
| Topics | LSD |
| Keywords | Etiology Drug reaction Incidence geometry Adverse effect Hallucinogen Clinical psychology Pharmacology |
| Citations | 59 |
| Key findings | No outstanding historical or current clinical features could predict an individual's response to LSD with accuracy. |
Abstract
In an attempt to identify the factors responsible for adverse reactions to LSD and to elucidate the rising incidence of hospital admissions associated with use of the drug, the authors compared 25 psychiatric inpatients hospitalized following LSD ingestion with 25 members of a group who took LSD together regularly without reported difficulty. Although some differences were found between the groups, there were no outstanding historical or current clinical features which could be used to predict an individual's response to LSD with accuracy. These findings support the hypothesis that LSD interacts with schizoid trends, unsteady reality testing, and related factors in a complex way that makes accurate prediction of response virtually impossible.