Edwin I Roth

The Post-Lsd Syndrome Edwin I Roth

I want to bring attention to a generally unrecognized condition, which results in a serious dysfunction in people who have experienced LSD. These patients are typically misdiagnosed as having an emotional problem but actually have a disturbance of brain function caused by prolonged effects of LSD. Their symptoms include axniety, insomnia, intellectual impairment and emotional instability. Unfortunately, none of the 500-plus patients I have seen had received effective treatment. The prognosis with effective treatment is excellent, and patients are relieved and grateful when they achieve a remission. When patients experience the post-LSD syndrome for years, with minimal benefit from ineffective medication, they become mentally and physically exhausted... The natural progression is to then turn to addictive substances for relief. The substance of choice in the majority of my patients has been alcohol. This patients gratifying improvement contrasts with his original grim, suicidal condition which had developed over years of misery and dysfunction caused by the POST-LSD SYNDROME and alcoholism. One wonders how prevalent are suicides in patients whose Syndrome is unrecognized and untreated.