Does LSD confer lasting psychological resilience? an investigation of naturalistic users experiencing job loss

TL;DR

This study investigates whether LSD use protects against psychological distress after job loss, finding no evidence of such resilience.

Contribution

The study provides new empirical evidence on LSD's psychological effects during real-world stress using a large national dataset.

Findings

LSD use prior to job loss was linked to higher severe psychological distress after job loss.

The association remained regardless of sociodemographic factors being controlled.

Findings contradict claims that LSD confers psychological resilience during stress.

Abstract

Recent studies on classic psychedelics have suggested that their use is associated with psychological strengths and resilience, thereby conferring users a type of psychological protection relative to non-users. However, this idea has been brought into question by recent findings suggesting that lifetime users of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) report worse mental health during stressful experiences. The current study addresses these mixed findings by examining whether LSD use prior to a stressful experience buffers against the psychological distress experienced in the wake of the stressful experience. This study draws on openly-available data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2008–2019) on 5,067,553 (weighted) unemployed, job seeking individuals experiencing job loss. Using purposeful respondent exclusion criteria to establish temporal precedence of the variables under investigation, this study offers a straightforward test of whether LSD use confers psychological resilience to naturalistic users. LSD use prior to job loss was associated with a higher likelihood of severe psychological distress following job loss, regardless of whether sociodemographic variables were controlled for or not. In sum, this study fails to find evidence for LSD-conferred psychological resilience in naturalistic users in the wake of a stressful experience.

Figures