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LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), commonly known as “acid,” is a powerful psychedelic drug that profoundly alters your senses, thoughts, mood, and perception of reality. It primarily works by binding to serotonin receptors in your brain, disrupting normal neural communication and causing effects that can last between 8 to 12 hours. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The experience of taking LSD is commonly referred to as a “trip”. Because the drug is highly unpredictable, a trip can be deeply pleasant (“good trip”) or terrifying (“bad trip”). [2, 5]
Short-Term Psychological Effects
- Visual Hallucinations: Seeing intense geometric patterns, swirling shapes, or objects that appear to move or change size.
- Sensory Blending (Synesthesia): Experiencing a “crossing over” of senses, such as “hearing” colors or “seeing” sounds.
- Distorted Time and Space: Feeling as though minutes are lasting for hours, or experiencing a warped perception of your own body shape and gravity.
- Rapid Mood Swings: Moving quickly between extreme euphoria, profound awe, intense anxiety, or deep paranoia.
- Ego Dissolution: Feeling a complete loss of regular identity and a sense of absolute connectedness to the universe.[2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Short-Term Physical Effects
- Pupil Dilation: Noticeably enlarged pupils.
- Vital Sign Spikes: Increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and higher body temperature.
- Physical Discomfort: Sweating, dry mouth, tremors, sleeplessness, and a total loss of appetite.
- Exhaustion: Significant physical fatigue and dehydration during the “comedown” phase as the drug wears off. [2, 12, 13]
Long-Term Effects and Risks
- Flashbacks: Re-experiencing aspects of a trip days, months, or even years after taking the drug.
- HPPD: Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, a rare condition where visual distortions become chronic and permanent.
- Mental Health Triggers: Severe panic attacks or the potential triggering of prolonged psychosis, especially in individuals predisposed to conditions like schizophrenia.
- Behavioral Dangers: Impaired judgment and a distorted sense of reality that can lead to accidental self-harm or dangerous situations.
- Tolerance: The body builds a tolerance to LSD rapidly, meaning taking the same amount days in a row will produce highly diminished effects. [3, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19]
Note: While LSD is not considered physically addictive, users can develop a psychological dependence on the experiences it creates. Medical researchers are currently studying the drug in highly controlled clinical settings for its potential to assist in treating depression and anxiety, but using unregulated street drug variants carries high risk due to unpredictable dosages and contamination. [15, 16, 20]
[13] https://ufhealth.org
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