Mariah McMullen

Doran
ENC2135
10/10/16
Annotated Bibliography
"The Dangers of LSD." Time Vol 87. No 16. 22 April 1966: n. 68. Print.

Within this TIME article, there are media accounts of dangerous and jarring incidents
involving the use of the hallucinogenic drug LSD. Within the article, the reactions to LSD
are detailed as chaotic, involving hospital trips and murders, the article give details of
individuals paying visits to hospitals for psychiatric evaluation and individuals
experiencing complete personality turn-arounds induced by the experimentation of LSD.
According to the article, many patients admitted to hospitals under the influence of the
drug exhibited uncontrollable impulses towards violence (68). Within my paper, I am
arguing for the use of LSD in medical treatments for anxiety, depression, and addiction.
However, I understand to build my argument, there must be an opposing side. This article
shows that the media is a major source of negative reactions in regards to the drug,
stating that LSD causes violent tendencies that may lead to murder.
This article is credible source, although it seems to be biased, because it was published
within a world-renowned magazine, TIME. The biased author uses real-world
experiences while describing specific events that paint LSD as a drug of violence and
anger. Although the source may also appear questionable in credibility considering the
source seems quite biased against the use of LSD.

Buchborn, Tobias, et al. Repeated Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in an Animal Model of

Depression: Normalisation of Learning Behavior and Hippocampal Serotonin 5-HT2
Singalling. Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol 28. No 6, 2015. 545-552.
Within this study, an animal model of depression was displayed by using mice in order to
understand how LSD would reflect within the behaviors of mice that had already been
treated with repeated doses of anti-depressants. Interestingly, the researchers found that
LSD works similarly to anti-depressants by alleviating depressive behaviors and the like
with repeated dosages. The reversal of symptoms is due to an increase in serotonin levels.
LSD affects neurotransmitters within the body, creating an increase in serotonin. Within
the body, serotonin helps to maintain moods such as happiness and a sense of well-being.
However, depression is typically caused by a deficit in serotonin. However, while LSD
posed to be effective, the articled noted that LSD should instead be used as a tool for
psychotherapy to change the mindsets of individuals as opposed to treating LSD like a
traditional anti-depressant. This helps my argument by giving support to the idea that
LSD can help to alleviate symptoms of mental illness in a way that is different from
traditional medications. Researchers stated that LSD should be used as a tool, similarly as
a crutch is used when people cant walk correctly on their own. While LSD may work
similarly to anti-depressants, LSD also has the ability to give users an experience that
may affect mindsets as opposed to just affecting chemicals within the brain.
This source appears credible as it is a scientific report of a study that was performed in
order to observe and evaluate chemically how LSD affects the brain and emotions. The

source is very detailed listing a hypothesis, methods, procedures, and results, elaborating
on what was observed.
Dolder, Patrick, et al. LSD Acutely Impairs Fear Recognition and Enhances Emotional Apathy
and Sociality.
This article focuses on LSDs ability to disable the ability to recognize feelings of fear
and increasing the ability to cause subjects to empathize and socialize. Subjects were
evaluated on their ability to recognize fear and other emotional processes by using the
Face Emotion Recognition Task (FERT) in which subjects were given images of faces to
use to recognize emotion and Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) in which subjects were
given images to match with situations that may be specific to the image. However,
emotional processing was assessed 5-7 hours after the peak of subjective responses to the
drug in order to better evaluate the affects LSD has on emotional processing. The article
reports that there was a lack of ability to recognize fear and sadness using the FERT and
an increase in the ability to experience emotional empathy. LSD was also reported to
create feelings of happiness, closeness, and trust in subject. Subjects were also evaluated
on their ability to socialize on LSD using the Social Value Orientation (SVO) test. LSD
also created an increase for subjects to want to socialize. Basically, LSD has the ability to
allow users to feel an increase in happy emotions as opposed to negative emotions. This
supports my argument by supporting the idea that LSD has the ability to induce emotions
in users suffering from anxiety that are not always present such as happiness and trust.
Also, LSD increases the ability to socialize normally and empathize with other
individuals. It should be noted that the article suggested that there is a specific window of

time (whereas subjects are experiencing strong psychedelic experiences) that

psychotherapeutic interventions may benefit those on the drug, supporting the argument
that LSD should be used concurrently with psychotherapy in order to create a beneficial
response in subjects being affected by mental illness.
The article appears credible because it is a study that used procedures and methods in
order to further understand how LSD may affect fear recognition, the ability to
empathize, and also the ability to socialize. The study used several methods in order to
observe the effects of LSD.
Dutta, Varsha. Repression of Death Consciousness and the Psychedelic Trip. 2012.
This article uses a philosophical approach to analyze LSD and other psychedelics and
their hallucinogenic affects within the medical field in regards to death. Dutta approaches
the ever-changing idea of death, analyzing the denial of death, ways in which mankind
represses the consciousness of the inevitable end, and how many have come to share the
idea of immortality, i.e. living as if there is no tomorrow. Importantly, Dutta speaks about
the way death is perceived in medicine and how mankind as a species has evolved
medically to further repress death and prolong ones life. Psychedelics come into play
initially in sacred rituals by medicine women in Mexico and other indigenous Columbian
cultures, especially rituals involving death. It was argued that psychedelics could make
death more conscious in those experiencing it, allowing those on their deathbeds to
receive a more insightful and clear conscious while transcending into another plane of
reality. It was found that LSD allowed cancer patients to fend off fears of impending
death while reducing pain and increasing positive emotions and feelings. This supports

the argument that LSD can allow users experiencing anxiety, particularly illness-related
anxiety, to achieve positive emotions and recognize and fight against negative emotions,
creating a happier and healthier mindset in the process.
The credibility of the article is obvious because the author is taking several sources and
combining them together in order to analyze the way in which LSD has been used in the
past and in recent years.
Krebs, Teri S., and Johansen,Pl-rjan. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) for Alcoholism:
Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Journal of Pharmacology, Vol 26,
No 7, 2012., 994-1002.
This journal analyzes and combines results from several sources in order to create a
single conclusion that may greater explain LSD and its effect on addiction in alcoholics.
Subjects from each of the studies were seeking treatment for alcoholism as their primary
problem. Many subjects reported positive changes such as short-term to long-term
abstinence. Also, subjects reported being able to gain further insight to their problems or
the source of their addiction, finding a resolution to their struggle with alcoholism. Some
subjects even reported feeling more open and accepting of themselves, adopting a
positive view of their own ability to combat future problems. With so much support from
varying studies, it seems as if LSD may seem to be a beneficial way to treat addiction.
This source can be used to support the idea that LSD combats addiction, often creating
beneficial effects for those suffering from addiction including positive and insightful
feelings and newfound abilities to fight addiction.

The source is credible because it is a meta-analysis that combines several studies into one
entity that supports a specific, i.e. combating addiction using LSD. The authors use intext citations to further communicate that the main idea has been supported throughout
several of the studies that are included within the meta-analysis, further increasing the
credibility of the source.
Passie, Torsten, et al. The Pharmacology of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: A Review. CNS
Neuroscience & Therepeutics, Vol 14, No 4, 2008. 295-314.
This source inspects into the background of the pharmacology of LSD, detailing LSD
from the time it was first synthesized to LSDs present view. From Albert Hofmanns
discovery of LSD and its wide spectrum of psychological effects, LSD has been used
within the medical field as an experimental tool to induce a temporary psychosis and was
later used in conjunction with psychotherapeutic treatments. After being used widely as
for recreational and spiritual purposes, LSD was soon denied use legally and since the
1970s research has been dulled. While exceptions have been made in regards to using
LSD in experimentation, there is certainly a lack of information on LSD from the 1970s
to present day although the interest in LSD within the medical field has certainly began to
pick up. This source also analyzes the psychological effects of LSD, noting that LSD
creates an altered state of consciousness characterized by several changes in
consciousness, noting that often, the effects of LSD impair subjects too much to
accurately cooperate in studies due to psychological and physiological effects. This
source helps to describe the effects of LSD and its history, allowing readers to gain
insight further into what LSD has the capability of doing in medicine.

This source may be considered credible because it gives details of information regarding
the background of the authors and the source also has a work cited of its own. The
authors also included in text citations that link directly to the citation in case readers wish
to explore further into different citations.
Schmid, Yasmin, et al. Acute Effects of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in Healthy Subjects.
Biological Psychiatry, Vol 70, No 8. 2015. 544-553.
This article describes and elaborates on the effects of LSD in healthy individuals to
further analyze the psychological and physiological effects of LSD. The article describes
effects such as hallucinations and synesthesia. Also included are psychological effects
such as happiness, closeness to others, and the ability to trust others. The study mentions
that the effects of LSD may be useful in psychotherapy as LSD. This source helps to
argue the point that the effects of LSD care significant and may be used in conjunction
with psychotherapy in order to treat mental illnesses.
This is a credible source because it lists several authors, where they come from, and what
department they work in. This helps to further increase credibility because the authors
obviously know what they are discussing due to their current work in their respective
departments. This source also links in-text citations directly to the citation that they
belong to.
Sun-Edelstein, Christina, and Alexander Mauskop. Alternative Headache Treatments:
Nutraceuticals, Behavioral and Physical Treatments. Headache: The Journal of Head
and Face Pain, Vol 15, No 3, 2011. 469-483.

This article is primarily focused on the use of alternative remedies for headache
treatments. Investigators found that the use of LSD yielded positive results such as a
decrease in headaches in those suffering from chronic headaches and that a cluster period
periods of expected headaches suffered by those who experience cluster headaches
were delayed or even terminated altogether. This is significant as the article mentions that
no other medication has been reported to terminate a cluster period. For many, this
means that there may be an alternative form of medication for headache-sufferers to use
in order to alleviate headaches, reduce them, or possibly terminate them. This helps
support my argument by stating that LSD may be used as an alternate form of medicine
not just for mental illness but for headaches, meaning that LSD may have multiple uses
aside from working in conjunction with psychotherapy.
This source is credible because it was published in a journal specifically created for the
discussion of headaches, i.e. the treatment of headaches and the like. The source comes
from authors that are specifically interested in headaches and how to treat them.
Smith, David E. "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: An Historical Perspective." Journal of
psychoactive drugs 1.1 (2007): 1-5. Print.
This article helps to elaborate some on the long history of acid has a long history. This
source helps to deliver a brief yet informative history of LSD, giving details on
information that the general public may not know such as average doses, physical
reactions, and the mental effects of the drug. Within my paper, I will use this information
to introduce the audience to LSD and what it is, its effects, and its history in order to
acquaint audiences with what LSD is.

This source appears credible because it is from a journal that discusses topics within the
main theme of psychoactive drugs. The author also appears to be affiliated with specific
departments that specialize in neuroscience, increasing the authors credibility.

"Use of LSD in Controlled Setting Improves Illness-Related Anxiety." Brown University

Psychopharmacology Update 26.3 (2015): 7-8. Print.
This source gives brief information on the effects of LSD in a controlled setting on those with
illness-related anxiety. This is an example of the use of LSD as a treatment for anxiety for those
with terminal illnesses or life-threatening illnesses. The treatment included full-doses and an
active placebo group over a 3-month period in which physicians documented their reactions.
Later, in interviews, two-thirds of the participants reported that they feared death less and had an
overall improved quality of life. I will use this information as an example to highlight the
positive effects of LSD as a treatment for anxiety disorders.
This source is credible because it was published by a study that was produced by colleagues that
are associated with Brown University, an Ivy League school known for its quality of education
and research. Also, it was published within a scientific journal that is specific to topics such as
psychopharmacology. Furthermore, the source is an update that further elaborates on previous
findings.