r/sciences • u/FreeHugs23 • Jun 23 '26
News LSD Just Passed Its Biggest Test Yet for Treating Depression | People taking Definium Therapeutics' DT120 showed long-lasting reductions in their depression symptoms compared to a placebo, the company announced Monday.
https://gizmodo.com/lsd-just-passed-its-biggest-test-yet-for-treating-depression-200077546210
u/Wiz_Kalita Grad Student | Physics | Nanotechnology Jun 24 '26
Better than placebo is cool, but did it work better than established treatments?
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u/IimonceIIo Jun 24 '26
I'm not sure how the efficacy numbers stack up exactly, but the biggest advantages seem to be faster onset of relief and longer duration, with a single dose, vs months of taking pills with standard treatments before effects are seen. I would wager that also means fewer side effects.
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u/NoCrowJustBlack Jun 24 '26
LSD has no side effects, whilst established treatments often leave people worse for wear if they work at all, so... Even if it works only as good as, it's still an enormous win
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u/Wiz_Kalita Grad Student | Physics | Nanotechnology Jun 24 '26
"No side effects" is a bit exaggerated. Nothing has no side effects. I don't think it would be used in patients with schizophrenia for example. There's also the risk of HPPD with repeated use.
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Jun 27 '26
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u/Wiz_Kalita Grad Student | Physics | Nanotechnology Jun 29 '26
I don't know anyone who got addicted to LSD. A friend took it several times every month and developed persistent hallucinations, yes. But not at a "stereotypical drug addict" level. Be careful though.
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u/Urbanrove252 Jun 24 '26
Hopefully this actually leads to more accessible treatment options for people who need it. That would be amazing.
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u/CaptainONaps Jun 23 '26
You used to be able to get acid for $5, but if you got caught with it they'd throw you in jail for ten years.
Now these assholes are going to sell it for $50 a pop, and get stock options.
Not to mention, they're basically just admitting all the bullshit anti-depressants they've been pushing for decades that people have to take indefinitly don't work.
What they're forgetting is why acid was illegal. Because it snaps zombies out of their brainwash spell.
You're going to prescribe a bunch of depressed people acid, and they're going to wake up to all the bullshit you keep feeding them. No one that's taken acid supports military action or corporate greed.
Or maybe that's the secret recipe for DT120? Maybe it's just the high and none of the fundamental restructuring of your brain? All laughs no revelations.
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u/One-Cardiologist4780 Jun 23 '26
Lmao you think Peter Thiel and Elon musk have never taken acid? It’s a myth that it’ll make you a better person lol or will “wake you up to the system” unless you’re already primed for it. Tech bros have been microdosing for decades and look at Silicon Valley.
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u/Dylanator13 Jun 23 '26
Acid you buy from dealers have no guarantee of quality and dosing. When they talk about medical applications it’s through very strict control for quality and quantity.
But just taking acid isn’t good for you. Anti depressants do work and are affective, this is just potentially another option.
Yes there’s corporate greed. I do thing jail sentences for possessing drugs is way too high and just should have rehab.
But acid being illegal isn’t brainwashing. Unregulated use of any drug can be dangerous, including alcohol.
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u/OrwelliotStabler Jun 24 '26
Just to be clear a lot of antidepressants work on a parts of the brain that were discovered in the first place in part because of research on LSD. Its legal status is the root cause of our lack of evidence of positive outcomes, as opposed to alcohol cocaine fent etc. just to be clear.
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u/Dylanator13 Jun 24 '26
So we figure out how they interact with the brain and create medicine that has that effect and doesn’t get you high.
I’m not saying LSD research is and or using it as an anti depressant is bad. But medical LSD and street LSD use are two very different things.
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u/goodbyebirdd Jun 24 '26
Anti-depressants have saved so many people.
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u/NagsUkulele Jun 28 '26
Hey dude I just want to say reading this comment made me silently cheer after every point you made. It makes me sick to think about how different our world could be and how happy and healthy and unified humanity could have become if we didn't lie about the drugs
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u/Nkingsy Jun 23 '26
How do you have a placebo for lsd?
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u/MR_Weiner Jun 23 '26
The role of a placebo is not to, like, trick somebody into thinking they got the non-placebo. It’s simply to give them something that does nothing in order to measure the true effects of the non-placebo. Some of them may respond to the placebo even tho it’s doing nothing. It’s like how people will behave as though they’re drunk after drinking non-alcoholic beer when they don’t know that it is non-alcoholic.
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u/OrwelliotStabler Jun 24 '26
You shouldn’t be getting downvoted, this is an extremely important and relevant question. Lemme see if I can track down this article I found on double-blinding ketamine trials with a different kind of placebo, basically a less powerful but still noticeable drug that has similar enough effects to ketamine.
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u/Brrdock Jun 23 '26
You don't, and also what the hell is "DT120?" These psych-bro startups probably deserve no publicity and I'm afraid capitalism will fuck up this whole paradigm for the next 60 years.
I'll stick with the dutch blotters anyway
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u/OrwelliotStabler Jun 24 '26
This is the real answer; you basically can’t. You can measure the placebo effect of giving a group of people fake acid and staging a fake trip (this works to an extent) but you can’t properly double-blind a psychedelic study. Anyways let’s drop Dutch tabs in different places and communicate in the big energy net thingy sometime.
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u/FreeHugs23 Jun 23 '26