LSD-Assisted Therapy
A long-acting synthetic psychedelic, studied for depression and anxiety and currently illegal in Australia.
What is it?
01LSD = lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as lysergide, is one of the most potent classic psychedelics known.
Like psilocybin, it acts primarily through the brain's serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, temporarily changing perception, emotion, thinking and communication between brain networks. Research using brain imaging has shown that LSD can reduce some of the usual boundaries between normally separated brain networks while increasing communication across others.
This altered state can lead to vivid imagery, changes in the perception of time and self, deeply introspective experiences and the ability to look at thoughts, memories or behavioural patterns from an entirely different perspective.
LSD has one particularly interesting characteristic compared with some other psychedelics: duration. A full psychedelic experience can last approximately 8–12 hours, making it a longer therapeutic process than psilocybin or MDMA.
Research into LSD is now returning after decades of interruption, with studies exploring its potential in anxiety, depression, alcohol-use disorder, neuroplasticity and possibly conditions involving rigid thought patterns such as OCD.
A brief history of LSD
LSD was first synthesised in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, who was working at the pharmaceutical company Sandoz in Basel.
Hofmann was studying compounds derived from ergot, a fungus that grows on grains such as rye, while searching for medicines that might stimulate circulation and respiration. LSD was the twenty-fifth compound in the series, which is why it was originally known as LSD-25.
Its extraordinary psychological effects were not discovered until 1943, when Hofmann revisited the compound and unexpectedly experienced its psychoactive properties. He subsequently conducted a deliberate self-experiment, famously cycling home from the laboratory during what became known as Bicycle Day.
Sandoz recognised its unusual potential and introduced LSD to psychiatrists and researchers under the pharmaceutical name Delysid in 1947. It was distributed internationally for research into psychotherapy and human consciousness.
During the 1950s and 1960s, LSD became one of the most heavily studied psychiatric substances in the world. Researchers explored it in psychotherapy, alcoholism, anxiety, depression and end-of-life distress.
It was also used by some therapists to help people access memories and emotions that had previously been difficult to reach. A 1960 psychiatric paper described LSD as potentially helping previously repressed childhood memories, emotional conflicts and feelings enter conscious awareness.
Thousands of patients participated in psychedelic research before LSD became increasingly associated with the counterculture of the 1960s. Political and social reaction eventually brought much of the scientific research to a halt.
More than half a century later, LSD has returned to the laboratory, and some of the new findings are remarkably compelling.
What may it help with?
02What is LSD being studied for?
Anxiety
Anxiety currently has some of the strongest modern LSD evidence.
A randomised Phase II trial involving 42 people with anxiety, with or without a life-threatening illness, found that two LSD-assisted therapy sessions produced significant reductions in anxiety compared with placebo.
Improvements were still evident 16 weeks after treatment, and participants also experienced reductions in depressive symptoms.
Long-term follow-up of participants found reductions in anxiety remained evident more than a year later.
Even more significantly, pharmaceutical LSD, first developed as MM120 and now known as DT120 (lysergide), has completed two Phase 3 clinical trials for generalised anxiety disorder.
A large Phase 2b trial involving 198 people found that a single 100-microgram treatment produced significant reductions in anxiety at four weeks, and the developer reported benefits continuing to 12 weeks. The U.S. FDA subsequently granted the program Breakthrough Therapy Designation for generalised anxiety disorder.
In 2026, the developer reported positive results from both Phase 3 trials. In the first, involving 214 adults, a single 100-microgram dose reduced anxiety significantly more than placebo, with improvements holding across the 12-week study period. The second Phase 3 trial also met its main goal. These results have been reported by the developer and are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
This makes LSD one of the psychedelic medicines furthest advanced through the modern pharmaceutical development pathway.
Depression
Depression frequently overlaps with anxiety, and modern LSD studies have also found improvements in depressive symptoms.
In the Phase II anxiety study, reductions in depression were observed alongside the reduction in anxiety and persisted well beyond the acute psychedelic experience.
Pharmaceutical LSD has also now been tested in a dedicated Phase 3 trial for major depressive disorder. In June 2026, the developer reported that a single 100-microgram dose given to 149 adults reduced depression symptoms significantly more than placebo, with benefits seen from the first week and still present at 12 weeks. These results are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The wider psychedelic field is particularly interested in whether increased cognitive flexibility and neuroplasticity may allow people to interrupt deeply established patterns of rumination and negative self-belief.
Alcohol-use disorder
One of the most surprising areas of LSD research is actually one of the oldest: alcohol addiction.
During the 1950s and 1960s, researchers conducted multiple trials using LSD within treatment programs for alcoholism.
A later meta-analysis pooled six randomised controlled trials involving 536 participants and found that a single LSD session was associated with a significant reduction in alcohol misuse compared with control conditions.
The research is old by modern clinical standards, but the consistency of the findings has renewed interest in psychedelic approaches to addiction.
Researchers believe profound shifts in perspective, meaning, self-perception and behaviour may be part of what makes these experiences relevant to addiction.
OCD and rigid thinking
OCD is another fascinating emerging area. Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves persistent intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours that can become extraordinarily difficult to interrupt.
Modern neuroscience has linked OCD with altered functioning across several brain networks involved in habit, self-referential thinking and cognitive control.
A 2026 review in Nature Mental Health proposed that psychedelics including LSD and psilocybin may temporarily disrupt these rigid network patterns and increase communication between normally separated brain systems.
This could theoretically create a period of greater flexibility in which deeply entrenched obsessive patterns become easier to examine or interrupt.
However, the strongest direct psychedelic clinical research in OCD is currently with psilocybin, rather than LSD. A small 2026 randomised clinical trial of repeated psilocybin treatment found that 73.3% of participants met the study's definition of treatment response and 40% were in remission at the end of the treatment period.
So, while LSD is scientifically interesting for OCD, it is more accurate at this stage to say that it represents an emerging area of investigation rather than an established treatment.
The fascinating dementia and Alzheimer's question
One of the most intriguing areas of psychedelic research involves ageing, neuroplasticity and dementia.
Consider the story of a 97-year-old woman known as SR, who had lived with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia for approximately 11 years.
According to a case history reported to the Beckley Foundation, her condition had deteriorated dramatically, and she had become deeply apathetic and minimally engaged with the people around her. Her caregiver and family experimented with a microdose of LSD.
They reported a striking temporary change: she appeared more awake and present, began talking and reading again, interacted with the people around her and appeared to regain aspects of her humour, personality and sense of self.
Her family continued a microdosing protocol during the final months of her life and described improvements in wellbeing and memory recall.
This was not a controlled clinical trial, so it cannot tell us that LSD reverses Alzheimer's disease. But the observation was interesting enough to contribute to scientific interest in low-dose LSD and neurodegeneration.
A subsequent Phase I study gave repeated low doses of 5, 10 or 20 micrograms of LSD to 48 healthy older adults. The doses were well tolerated and did not impair cognition, balance or proprioception, providing an early foundation for further research into LSD and Alzheimer's disease.
Scientists are particularly interested in whether psychedelics might influence neuroplasticity, inflammation and brain-network communication, all of which are relevant to neurodegenerative disease.
And there is another fascinating development.
In 2026, researchers published a separate case report involving an 80-plus-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer's disease who received psilocybin-containing mushrooms. Around 19 hours later, she unexpectedly began several hours of spontaneous autobiographical conversation after years of severely restricted speech.
Over the following days and weeks, researchers documented temporary improvements in communication, mobility, emotional responsiveness, continence and social engagement.
Again, one case cannot establish a treatment, but it's encouraging.
But together these observations raise a remarkable scientific question: how much functional capacity can remain hidden inside a brain affected by neurodegeneration, and could altered states temporarily make some of that capacity accessible again?
That question deserves considerably more research.
What about microdosing LSD?
Microdosing generally refers to taking a very small amount of a psychedelic, below the level expected to produce a full psychedelic experience.
LSD became particularly associated with microdosing through reports of people using small amounts in an attempt to improve focus, creativity, mood, energy or cognitive flexibility.
The idea became extremely popular long before high-quality clinical research caught up with it.
Controlled research has produced a much more complicated picture. Studies in healthy participants have generally not found reliable improvements in cognition, creativity, anxiety or wellbeing compared with placebo.
A randomised controlled study investigating LSD microdosing in major depression, with results announced in November 2025, also found that microdosing was not superior to active placebo for reducing depression symptoms. That does not mean microdosing research is finished.
Scientists are continuing to explore whether particular populations, dosing patterns or neurological conditions might respond differently. The Alzheimer's research is one example of why very-low-dose LSD remains scientifically interesting.
For now, however, the strongest modern evidence for LSD appears to be emerging from full therapeutic doses rather than microdosing.
How does it work?
03What happens in the brain?
LSD interacts strongly with serotonin receptors, particularly 5-HT2A receptors, which are widely distributed throughout areas of the brain involved in perception, cognition and emotional processing.
Brain-imaging research suggests LSD temporarily changes communication between large-scale brain networks. Networks that normally operate relatively independently can begin communicating in different ways, while some established patterns of connectivity become less rigid.
This is part of the reason psychedelic researchers are so interested in the idea of cognitive flexibility.
Conditions such as depression, anxiety, addiction and OCD can involve persistent loops of thinking and behaviour. One theory is that psychedelics may temporarily loosen some of these highly entrenched patterns, creating an opportunity for new perspectives and responses to emerge.
Researchers are also investigating whether psychedelics promote neuroplasticity, the brain's capacity to change, adapt and form new connections. Preclinical research suggests classic psychedelics including LSD can influence pathways associated with dendritic growth, synaptic remodelling and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF.
This does not mean LSD simply "rewires the brain", but it raises an extraordinary question:
Could there be periods following psychedelic experiences when the brain becomes more receptive to change?
That is one of the areas modern psychedelic science is now trying to understand.
What does the evidence say?
04What we are learning
LSD has had one of the most extraordinary journeys in psychiatric medicine.
It began in a Swiss pharmaceutical laboratory, became an experimental psychiatric drug, helped launch an entire field of psychedelic psychotherapy, became an icon of the counterculture, disappeared from mainstream science for decades, and is now returning to some of the world's most rigorous clinical research.
The emerging evidence is particularly interesting for generalised anxiety, depression and alcohol-use disorder, while research into neuroplasticity, OCD and neurodegenerative disease is opening entirely new questions.
Perhaps most fascinating is what LSD teaches us about the brain itself. For decades we assumed the adult brain was comparatively fixed.
Psychedelic science is challenging that idea.
The possibility that deeply established patterns of thought, emotion and even brain-network activity may become temporarily more flexible could have implications far beyond psychedelics themselves. There is still much to learn.
But after almost 80 years, science is once again asking questions about LSD that researchers first began exploring generations ago, this time with modern neuroscience capable of looking inside the brain while it happens.
What does a session or practice look like?
05What does an LSD-assisted therapy session look like?
The emerging therapeutic model shares many principles with other psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Preparation happens beforehand so that the participant understands the process, develops trust with the therapist or clinical team and explores what they hope to work with.
An LSD experience is unusually long and can last around 8–12 hours, which means the setting and therapeutic relationship become particularly important.
During the session, people may experience periods of vivid imagery, deep emotional processing, memories, altered perceptions of themselves and others, or a feeling of seeing long-held problems from an entirely different perspective. There may be periods of conversation with the therapist alongside long periods of inward focus.
As with MDMA and psilocybin, the quality of the environment can profoundly influence the experience. Feeling physically comfortable, emotionally supported and able to be vulnerable can help someone engage more deeply with whatever arises.
Because LSD can significantly alter the perception of time and self, surrender and trust can become important parts of the therapeutic experience.
Why integration matters
Some LSD experiences can feel enormously significant in the moment, but insight alone does not necessarily create behavioural change.
Integration gives someone an opportunity to examine what emerged and translate those insights into their actual life.
That may include psychotherapy, somatic work, journalling, nervous-system regulation, changing relationships or environments, and consciously working with new behaviours and thought patterns.
Remember: the medicine may open the door, but the work afterwards helps create lasting change.
Risks and considerations
06Access in Australia
Unlike MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, LSD does not currently have an Australian Authorised Prescriber pathway for routine psychedelic-assisted treatment.
Lysergide remains listed as a Schedule 9 prohibited substance in the Australian Poisons Standard, meaning access is generally restricted to authorised medical or scientific research, including approved clinical trials.
Internationally, however, LSD research is moving rapidly. Pharmaceutical LSD has now completed late-stage clinical trials in the United States for generalised anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, with positive results reported by the developer, and the FDA has granted the program Breakthrough Therapy Designation.
That makes LSD particularly interesting to watch over the coming years.
- Screening matters. Psychedelic treatments aren't suitable for everyone. People with a personal or family history of psychosis or bipolar disorder, some heart conditions, or who take certain medications may face serious risks.
Questions to ask a practitioner
07An LSD experience can last most of a day, so the people and the setting around you matter as much as the medicine. You deserve clear answers before you agree to anything.
- Legal pathway: Is there any legal pathway to this treatment in Australia? If this is overseas or part of research, is it legal where it is offered, and is the trial registered?
- Qualifications and experience: Who is medically responsible for my care? What training does the team have in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and how much experience do they have with LSD specifically?
- Screening and suitability: What medical and psychological screening is included? How do you assess a personal or family history of psychosis or bipolar disorder, heart conditions, blood pressure and my current medications, including antidepressants?
- The medicine: Is the LSD pharmaceutical grade, and how do you confirm the dose I receive?
- Consent: What will you explain to me before I agree? Can I change my mind at any point before dosing? If touch is ever offered, how do we agree on that beforehand?
- Preparation: How many preparation sessions are included, and how will you help me prepare for an experience that may last 8 to 12 hours?
- During the session: Who stays with me for the whole session, until the effects have fully worn off? Can I talk about what comes up, and how do you support me if I become anxious or overwhelmed?
- Emergency procedures: What happens if I become medically unwell? What equipment and trained staff are on site, and what is your arrangement for getting me to a hospital if needed?
- Afterwards: When will it be safe for me to go home, and should someone be with me overnight?
- Integration and ongoing support: How many follow-up sessions are included? Do you offer somatic or body-based approaches? Who can I contact if difficult feelings or changes in perception continue afterwards?
- Evidence and alternatives: What evidence supports your approach? What evidence-based treatments are available to me now?
Notice how you feel with the people offering this care. You should feel safe enough to ask anything, and free to say no.
You’ve read about it. Now what can you actually do?
You don’t need to have the perfect plan. Choose the next step that feels most useful for where you are right now.
Always speak with a qualified health professional before starting something new. If you are struggling right now, find immediate support.
Want to keep exploring?
Recommended articles, books, podcasts and lived experiences related to this topic.
Explore the LibraryRelated Tools
This is educational information. It is not a recommendation that this approach is right for you. Always speak with a qualified health professional.
