Phantom Limb Pain: Sub‐Hallucinogenic Treatment With Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD‐25)

Fanciullacci, M; Bene, E. Del; Franchi, G; Sicuteri, F

doi:10.1111/j.1526-4610.1977.hed1703118.x

Cited by 24 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Likewise, administration of LSD-assisted psychotherapy to a case series of cancer patients ( N =53) with pain, anxiety, and depression produced significant improvements in pain severity, pre-occupation with pain and physical suffering, anxiety, and depression (Grof et al, 1973; Pahnke et al, 1969). Another case series on treatment of phantom limb pain ( N =9) with sub-hallucinogenic doses of LSD reported improvement in pain in five patients and decreased use of analgesics (Fanciullacci et al, 1977). Overall, these studies suggest a role for LSD in pain management but controlled research is warranted to provide further evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers

et al. 2020

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Background: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is an ergot alkaloid derivative with psychedelic properties that has been implicated in the management of persistent pain. Clinical studies in the 1960s and 1970s have demonstrated profound analgesic effects of full doses of LSD in terminally ill patients, but this line of research evaporated after LSD was scheduled worldwide. Aim: The present clinical study is the first to revisit the potential of LSD as an analgesic, and at dose levels which are not expected to produce profound mind-altering effects. Methods: Twenty-four healthy volunteers received single doses of 5, 10 and 20 µg LSD as well as placebo on separate occasions. A Cold Pressor Test was administered at 1.5 and 5 h after treatment administration to assess pain tolerance to experimentally evoked pain. Ratings of dissociation and psychiatric symptoms as well as assessments of vital signs were included to monitor mental status as well as safety during treatments. Results: LSD 20 µg significantly increased the time that participants were able to tolerate exposure to cold (3°C) water and decreased their subjective levels of experienced pain and unpleasantness. LSD elevated mean blood pressure within the normal range and slightly increased ratings of dissociation, anxiety and somatization. Conclusion: The present study provides evidence of a protracted analgesic effect of LSD at a dose that is low enough to avoid a psychedelic experience. The present data warrant further research into the analgesic effects of low doses of LSD in patient populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers

et al. 2020

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“…This lays the theoretical groundwork for why psychedelics may effectively treat depression: if depression is underpinned by a high precision prior of low allostatic self-efficacy (Stephan et al, 2016), it follows that relaxation and revision of this prior should alleviate depressive symptoms. Finally, (and speculatively), if the account of "retuning" of self-models under psychedelics presented here generalises to the bodily self (which the experiential changes in bodily selfhood would suggest) this account is suggestive of a potential role for psychedelics in the treatment of chronic pain, and for phantom limb pain -for which there has already been promising results (Fanciullacci, Bene, Franchi, & Sicuteri, 1977;Ramachandran, Chunharas, Marcus, Furnish, & Lin, 2018).…”

Section: Ecstatic Ego-dissolution and Challenging Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 73%

Dissolving the self

Deane

2020

PhiMiSci

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Psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, LSD and DMT are known to induce powerful alterations in phenomenology. Perhaps of most philosophical and scientific interest is their capacity to disrupt and even “dissolve” one of the most primary features of normal experience: that of being a self. Such “peak” or “mystical” experiences are of increasing interest for their potentially transformative therapeutic value. While empirical research is underway, a theoretical conception of the mechanisms underpinning these experiences remains elusive. In the following paper, psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution is accounted for within an active inference framework, as a collapse in the “temporal thickness” of an agent’s deep temporal model, as a result of lowered precision on high-level priors. The argument here is composed of three moves: first, a view of the self-model is proposed as arising within a temporally deep generative model of an embodied organism navigating an affordance landscape in the service of allostasis. Next, a view of the action of psychedelics as lowering the precision of high-level priors within the generative model is unpacked in terms of a high Bayesian learning rate. Finally, the relaxation of high-level priors is argued to cause a “collapse” in the temporal thickness of the generative model, resulting in a collapse in the self-model and a loss of the ordinary sense of being a self. This account has implications for our understanding of ordinary self-consciousness and disruptions in self-consciousness present in psychosis, autism, depression, and dissociative disorders. The philosophical, theoretical and therapeutic implications of this account are touched upon.

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“…In 1977, Fanciullacci et al [104] reported that five out of seven patients with phantom limp pain who were administered sub-hallucinogenic doses of LSD (25 μg p.o./ day for one week followed by 50 μg p.o./ day for a further two further weeks) reported improvement in pain and reductions in analgesic consumption. We have been unable to find any other reports of the use of LSD or psilocybin for pain.…”

Section: Clinical Research On Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and Psilocybmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and Psilocybin for the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain: a Potential Role?

Whelan

Johnson

2018

Pain Manag.

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Recently, there has been interest in lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin for depression, anxiety and fear of death in terminal illness. The aim of this review is to discuss the potential use of LSD and psilocybin for patients with persistent pain. LSD and psilocybin are 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor agonists and may interact with nociceptive and antinociceptive processing. Tentative evidence from a systematic review suggests that LSD (7 studies, 323 participants) and psilocybin (3 studies, 92 participants) may be beneficial for depression and anxiety associated with distress in life-threatening diseases. LSD and psilocybin are generally safe if administered by a healthcare professional, although further investigations are needed to assess their utility for patients with persistent pain, especially associated with terminal illness.

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Phantom Limb Pain: Sub‐Hallucinogenic Treatment With Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD‐25)

Cited by 24 publications

References 3 publications

A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers

A low dose of lysergic acid diethylamide decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers

Dissolving the self

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and Psilocybin for the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain: a Potential Role?

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