Field Notes / Volume I
An annotated bibliography of the research on lysergic acid diethylamide as it relates to post-traumatic stress — the clinical evidence, the mechanisms proposed to explain it, the safety signals, and the history. Cornerstone works are annotated first; the context shelf and the historical section are expanding.
A note on what this bibliography shows. Searching the literature for "LSD and PTSD" returns a hundred-plus results, but very few center LSD, and fewer still report LSD given for trauma. The modern psychedelic-PTSD evidence is dominated by MDMA and ketamine; direct LSD-for-PTSD trials essentially do not yet exist. The strongest LSD-specific clinical signal comes from the Swiss compassionate-use programme and a single controlled anxiety trial. That absence is not a gap in this bibliography — it is the finding, and it is where the open questions live.
Krediet E, Bostoen T, Breeksema J, et al. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol · 2020
Note The foundational PTSD-scoped review — frames the whole question this volume circles. Full annotation forthcoming.
Varker T, Watson L, Gibson K, et al. J Psychoactive Drugs · 2020
Note The on-topic systematic review that names LSD explicitly — though it finds the LSD trial evidence essentially absent, which is the point. Full annotation forthcoming.
Bahji A, Lunsky I, Gutierrez G, Vazquez G. J Psychoactive Drugs · 2023
Note Quantitative meta-analysis including LSD among four agents — the numbers behind the claims. Full annotation forthcoming.
Thomas JE, Dellarole A, Caballero J. Am J Health Syst Pharm · 2026
Note The most current systematic review; explicitly notes RCTs of LSD for PTSD are still needed — keep live as the field moves. Full annotation forthcoming.
Zaretsky TG, Jagodnik KM, Barsic R, et al. Curr Neuropharmacol · 2024
Note Comprehensive PTSD-centered review from the Mount Sinai / Bronx VA group (senior author Rachel Yehuda) — strong orientation piece. Full annotation forthcoming.
Schmid Y, Gasser P, Oehen P, Liechti ME. J Psychopharmacol · 2020
Note Rare LSD-specific clinical data from the Swiss compassionate-use programme — and it uses the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, directly relevant to your transpersonal lens. Full annotation forthcoming.
Oehen P, Gasser P. Front Psychiatry · 2022
Note LSD introduced deliberately to deepen trauma processing in real clinical practice — the closest thing to LSD-for-trauma evidence anywhere. Full annotation forthcoming.
De Gregorio D, Aguilar-Valles A, Preller KH, et al. J Neurosci · 2020
Note LSD-inclusive bridge from mechanism to clinic. Full annotation forthcoming.
Smith DE, Raswyck GE, Davidson LD. J Psychoactive Drugs · 2014
Note LSD-specific history from David E. Smith (founder of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics) — the hinge into the historical section. Full annotation forthcoming.
Gasser P, Holstein D, Michel Y, et al. J Nerv Ment Dis · 2014
Note The landmark modern LSD RCT (double-blind, placebo-controlled). Indexed under anxiety, not PTSD — added by hand. The reference point for all LSD-assisted therapy. Full annotation forthcoming.
Gasser P, Kirchner K, Passie T. J Psychopharmacol · 2015
Note The qualitative companion to the Gasser RCT, using content analysis of interviews — methodologically the closest published work to your own study's design. Full annotation forthcoming.
Kurkova V, Winkler O, Greenshaw A, et al. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry · 2025
Note Veteran-relevant — moral injury as a distinct axis alongside PTSD; author group includes military psychiatrist Rakesh Jetly. Full annotation forthcoming.
Werle I, Bertoglio LJ. Neurosci Biobehav Rev · 2024
Note The fear-extinction and reconsolidation mechanism — the plausible 'how' behind any PTSD effect, LSD included. Full annotation forthcoming.
Raut SB, Marathe PA, van Eijk L, et al. Pharmacol Ther · 2022
Note Memory-reconsolidation framing that unifies otherwise disparate treatments; authors include the Uniformed Services trauma-stress center. Full annotation forthcoming.
Modlin NL, Creed M, Sarang M, et al. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat · 2024
Note Qualitative and method-adjacent to your triangulation lens; states plainly that trials of classical psychedelics in PTSD are lacking. Full annotation forthcoming.
Mohamed A, Touheed S, Ahmed M, et al. Cureus · 2022
Note PTSD-focused efficacy review; accessible entry point for a general reader. Full annotation forthcoming.
Vermetten E, Krediet E, Bostoen T, et al. Tijdschr Psychiatr · 2020
Note Dutch-language PTSD scoping review (Vermetten group); included for completeness of the PTSD-specific set. Full annotation forthcoming.
Ertl N, Ashraf I, Azizi L, et al. Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
Note LSD-specific neuroimaging from the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research (incl. Carhart-Harris); names PTSD as a target mechanism. Full annotation forthcoming.
Kopra EI, Ferris JA, Winstock AR, et al. J Psychopharmacol · 2023
Note Naturalistic LSD self-treatment at scale (n=1,996 LSD) — adjacent to the microdosing question, and notes negative effects appear more often than in clinical settings. Full annotation forthcoming.
Rubin-Kahana DS, Hassan AN, Le Foll B. J Addict Med · 2020
Note The counter-evidence — PTSD onset after an unsupported LSD/DMT experience. A caveat-is-not-a-claim entry that keeps the bibliography honest. Full annotation forthcoming.
Halpern JH, Lerner AG, Passie T. Curr Top Behav Neurosci · 2018
Note Safety/risk context specific to the LSD class — belongs in any honest bibliography. Full annotation forthcoming.
Healthy-subject studies of low-dose LSD — what the compound reliably does in the body and mind, independent of any trauma indication. Curated on the Microdosing Vets study site; linked here as context, not reproduced.
What the evidence looks like for other psychedelics in the same population — and the frame that makes the LSD gap visible: MDMA, ketamine, and psilocybin carry the veteran-PTSD literature; LSD is almost entirely absent from it. Curated on Psychedelic Vets; linked here.
A hand-curated section on the 1950s–70s LSD-psychotherapy era (Eisner, Kast, Savage, Chandler, Grof) that today's search tools miss, plus a note on Traumatic neuroses in Vietnam returnees (1973) — a paper that named combat trauma before the PTSD diagnosis existed. Being built by hand; the automated watcher won't surface these.
Bibliographic metadata sourced from PubMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine). Each entry links to its PubMed record and DOI. Annotations are the author's own; where evidence is thin or absent, this bibliography says so. Nothing here constitutes medical advice.