How Does LSD Change Your Mood

LSD is a powerful hallucinogen, which means it changes how the brain handles what a person sees, hears, thinks and feels. It does not simply make colours brighter or sounds stranger. It changes mood itself, often in ways that are hard to predict and hard to control. One moment a person may feel full of joy, wonder or closeness to other people. A short time later the same person may feel frightened, confused, tearful or angry, without any clear reason for the change. That swing is not a side detail. For many people it is the most difficult part of the experience, and it is the part that can leave the longest mark after the drug itself has worn off.

The reason mood changes so much is that LSD acts on the brain systems that normally keep feelings steady. In everyday life, mood moves up and down in a fairly gentle way. Something good happens and you feel pleased. Something difficult happens and you feel low for a while, then you recover. LSD disturbs that balance. It makes the brain react far more strongly than usual to small things, and it makes it harder to step back, think clearly and calm the feeling down. A small worry can grow into a large fear. A small pleasure can turn into an overwhelming high. And when the high fades, the fall can feel much steeper than an ordinary bad mood.

This article explains, in plain words, how LSD changes mood: why feelings swing so fast, why the crash afterwards can feel so heavy, how anxiety and low mood can linger, how irritability can strain relationships, and when mood problems after LSD need professional help. It is general information only, not individual medical advice. It does not describe how to use LSD, and it does not offer any safe way to take it. If you are worried about your own mood, or about someone close to you, a qualified health professional is the right person to talk to.

What LSD Does in the Brain

To understand why mood changes so much, it helps to know a little about what LSD does in the brain. The brain uses chemical messengers to pass signals between its cells. One of the most important of these messengers is serotonin, which helps to regulate mood, sleep, appetite and the way we make sense of the world around us. LSD acts on the same docking points that serotonin uses, especially a type called the 5-HT2A receptor. When LSD attaches there, it changes how different parts of the brain talk to each other. Areas that normally work separately start to fire together, while the brain’s usual filters, the systems that help us judge what is real, what matters and what can be ignored, become much weaker.

That is why ordinary things can suddenly feel full of meaning, or full of threat. A familiar room can feel strange. A friend’s ordinary remark can feel like a criticism. A sound from the street can feel frightening. The brain is taking in the same information as usual, but it is processing it without its normal brakes. Feelings that would normally be small and passing become large and hard to escape. This is also why two people can have very different experiences in similar settings, and why the same person can have a very different experience on different occasions. Mood before the drug, tiredness, stress, the place, the people nearby and what is happening in that person’s life all shape what the brain does with the extra signals.

The effects usually begin within an hour or so and can last for many hours, which is a long time to live with feelings that will not settle. During that time the person cannot simply decide to feel calm again, because the drug is still changing how the brain works. Trying to think clearly through the experience is like trying to steer a car while the steering wheel keeps moving on its own. That loss of control is itself frightening for many people, and the fear then feeds the bad mood, which feeds more fear. It becomes a loop that is hard to break from inside.

Why Feelings Swing So Fast

Mood swings are one of the most widely reported effects of LSD, and they can happen quickly. A person may feel happy and relaxed, then suddenly feel suspicious, sad or panicked, then feel happy again, all within a short period. There is often no outside event to explain the change. The change comes from inside, from the way the drug is shifting the brain’s chemistry from moment to moment. For someone watching from the outside, this can look confusing or even alarming. For the person going through it, it can feel as if their own feelings cannot be trusted, which is a deeply unsettling thing to discover about yourself.

Part of the problem is that LSD weakens the brain’s ability to put feelings into proportion. In normal life, if you feel a flash of anger, you can usually think, that was a small thing, let it go. Under the influence of LSD, that pause between feeling and judgement is much weaker. The feeling arrives at full strength, and the thought that would normally calm it down arrives late, or not at all. So anger can turn into shouting or tears before the person has had time to think. Fear can turn into panic before the person can remind themselves that they are safe. Joy can turn into laughing that feels out of control and then suddenly tips into tears.

This is also why the setting matters so much, even though it cannot make the drug safe. A calm, familiar place with trusted people nearby is less likely to feed fear than a noisy, crowded or unfamiliar place. But even in a calm place, the mood can still swing, because the swing is coming from the drug’s action on the brain, not only from what is happening around the person. People who expected a pleasant, gentle experience are often the most shocked when their mood turns dark without warning. The drug does not follow a plan, and it does not respect a person’s hopes for the evening.

The High and the Crash

Many people describe the early part of an LSD experience as a high: a feeling of happiness, wonder, closeness or freedom that is stronger than ordinary happiness. Colours, music and conversation can feel richer. Problems that normally weigh on the mind can feel distant or unimportant. For a while, that can feel like a release. The trouble is that the high is borrowed. It is not the result of anything good happening in the person’s life. It is the result of the drug pushing the brain’s mood systems far beyond their normal range, and a brain pushed that far cannot stay there.

As the drug’s effects begin to fade, the mood often falls sharply. This is sometimes called the comedown, or the crash, and for many people it is the hardest part. Energy drops. The sense of wonder is replaced by tiredness, flatness and sadness. Things that felt meaningful a few hours earlier can suddenly feel empty. Some people feel tearful for no clear reason. Others feel irritable, restless or unable to sleep, even though they are exhausted. The body has been awake and alert for many hours, often without proper food, water or rest, and that physical tiredness makes the low mood worse.

The crash does not always end when the drug leaves the body. The day after, many people feel washed out, low and slow, as if their mood has been used up. Simple tasks feel harder. Conversation feels like an effort. The contrast with the high makes the ordinary world feel grey and dull by comparison, which can leave a person longing to feel that high again. That longing is part of what makes LSD risky, even though it is not usually described as physically addictive in the same way as some other drugs. The wish to escape a flat, grey feeling and return to a bright, intense one can be powerful, especially if ordinary life already feels difficult.

Anxiety That Stays After

Anxiety is one of the most common problems linked with LSD, both during the experience and afterwards. During the experience, anxiety can take the form of a bad trip: intense fear, a feeling that something terrible is about to happen, a sense that the body or the mind is falling apart, or a feeling of being trapped in a thought that will not stop. These feelings can be terrifying, and because the drug lasts for hours, the person cannot escape them quickly. Some people describe feeling as if they are losing their mind, and that fear itself becomes part of the experience.

For some people, the anxiety does not stop when the drug wears off. They may feel nervous, on edge or easily startled for days afterwards. Ordinary worries can feel larger. Crowded places, loud noises or being alone can feel harder than before. Sleep can become difficult, because the mind keeps replaying frightening moments from the experience, or because the person lies awake worrying that the feelings will come back. Poor sleep then makes the anxiety worse the next day, because a tired brain finds it harder to stay calm. It becomes a cycle that can take time to settle.

In a smaller number of people, anxiety after LSD can last much longer and can develop into a lasting problem. This is more likely when the person already lived with anxiety, when the experience was very frightening, or when LSD is used again and again. Health professionals sometimes describe a condition called hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, in which visual disturbances and a sense of unease keep returning long after the drug has gone. That condition is uncommon, but it is real, and it shows how a drug that lasts for hours can leave effects that last for months. Anyone who feels anxious for weeks after using LSD, or whose anxiety is getting worse rather than better, should seek professional help rather than waiting and hoping it will pass on its own.

Low Mood and Sadness That Linger

Low mood after LSD is also common, and it is often misunderstood. Some people expect to feel fine once the drug has worn off, and they are surprised when they feel sad, empty or flat for days afterwards. Part of this is physical. The brain has been working hard for many hours, and the body is tired, dehydrated and short of sleep. But part of it is emotional too. During the high, a person may have felt a strong sense of meaning, closeness or happiness. When that feeling disappears, ordinary life can feel disappointing by comparison. It is a little like coming home from a holiday that felt wonderful and finding the house cold and quiet. The contrast itself can make a person feel low.

For people who already live with low mood or depression, LSD can make things worse. The drug can bring difficult memories or painful thoughts to the surface, and the person may not have the support or the coping skills to deal with them while their thinking is disturbed. Sad thoughts that would normally be kept in the background can feel overwhelming. After the experience, those thoughts may stay closer to the surface than before, and the person may feel more hopeless about the future. This is one reason health professionals warn strongly against using LSD as a way to deal with depression or emotional pain. It does not solve the pain. It can make it louder and harder to manage.

There is also a quieter kind of sadness that some people describe: a feeling that everyday pleasures no longer satisfy them in the same way. Food, music, conversation and work can all feel a little duller after an intense experience. This is not the same as clinical depression, and for many people it fades over days or weeks as the brain settles back to normal. But while it lasts, it can make life feel grey and unrewarding, and it can make the idea of using LSD again seem tempting. That is a trap worth recognising. Chasing the high to escape the flatness usually makes the flatness worse over time, because each intense experience leaves the brain more tired and less able to enjoy ordinary things.

Irritability and Strained Relationships

Mood changes do not only affect the person who took LSD. They affect the people around them too, and irritability is often where that damage shows first. After an intense experience, a person may feel short-tempered, impatient or easily annoyed by small things. A question from a family member can feel like an intrusion. A noise from a child can feel unbearable. A delay or a small mistake at work can spark an anger that feels out of proportion. The person often knows, afterwards, that they overreacted, but in the moment the feeling arrived before the judgement that would have held it back.

Over time, repeated irritability can wear down trust in a relationship. Partners, parents, friends and workmates may start to feel that they never know which mood they will meet. They may walk on eggshells, avoiding certain topics or keeping their distance to avoid a sudden outburst. The person who used LSD may feel misunderstood or judged, which can make them withdraw further, which makes the people around them feel more shut out. It is a slow, quiet kind of damage, and it does not always look like a drug problem from the outside. It looks like a relationship that is getting harder, and neither side quite knows why.

Mood swings can also damage trust in a more direct way. A person may say things during an LSD experience, or during the irritable days afterwards, that they would not normally say: harsh words, accusations, promises they cannot keep, or confidences shared at the wrong time. Those words can stay in the other person’s memory long after the drug has worn off. Apologising helps, but it does not always undo the hurt, especially if the pattern repeats. This is one of the reasons families often find LSD harder to live with than they expected. The problem is not only what happens during the hours of the drug. It is what happens to patience, kindness and self-control in the days and weeks that follow.

Flashbacks and Lasting Mood Changes

Some people who use LSD report flashbacks: brief moments, days or weeks later, when part of the experience returns without warning. A colour, a pattern, a sound or a feeling of strangeness can suddenly come back, even though the person has not taken the drug again. Flashbacks are usually short, lasting seconds or minutes, but they can be frightening, especially if they happen while the person is driving, working or looking after a child. The fear is not only about what is happening in that moment. It is about not knowing when it will happen again, and whether it will happen at a dangerous time.

For most people, flashbacks fade over time, especially if they stop using LSD and give their brain time to recover. For a small number, the visual changes and the unease can keep returning for months. Health professionals take this seriously, because it shows that LSD can change how the brain processes what it sees and feels, and that the change does not always switch off when the drug leaves the body. Stress, tiredness and the use of other drugs can make flashbacks more likely, which is another reason rest and support matter after a frightening experience.

Lasting mood changes are less common, but they are the most serious risk. A small number of people, especially those who already had a mental health condition or a family history of one, find that LSD triggers a longer period of anxiety, low mood or confused thinking that does not settle on its own. This does not happen to everyone, and it is not possible to predict in advance who will be affected. That unpredictability is itself part of the risk. A person cannot know, before they take LSD, whether their brain will recover quickly or whether they will be one of the people who is left with a problem that lasts for months and needs professional treatment.

When Mood Problems Need Help

It is important to be clear about when to seek help. Feeling low, tired or unsettled for a day or two after using LSD is common, and for many people it passes with rest, food, water and time away from the drug. But there are signs that mean help should not wait. If low mood, anxiety or confusion lasts for more than a couple of weeks, or if it is getting worse rather than better, that is a sign to talk to a doctor. If a person feels unable to work, study, sleep or look after themselves, that is a sign too. If they have thoughts of harming themselves, or if they feel they cannot stay safe, that needs urgent help, from a doctor, a mental health service or an emergency service, straight away.

Help is also needed if flashbacks keep happening, if the person feels detached from reality, or if they are hearing or seeing things that other people cannot see when they have not taken the drug. These can be signs that the brain needs professional support to settle, and the sooner that support starts, the better the chance of recovery. A health professional will not judge a person for having used LSD. Their job is to listen, to understand what has happened, and to offer the right support, which may include talking therapy, support for sleep and anxiety, or treatment for low mood.

Family and friends can help by staying calm, by listening without lecturing, and by encouraging the person to get professional help rather than trying to fix the problem with more drugs or with willpower alone. It also helps to make the home calm and predictable for a while: regular meals, regular sleep, gentle routine and time away from stressful situations. What does not help is pretending the problem is not there, or telling the person to simply snap out of it. Mood problems after LSD are real, they have a physical cause in the brain, and they deserve the same care as any other health problem.

Mood, Sleep and Everyday Life

Mood does not live in a separate box from the rest of life. It affects sleep, appetite, work, study and the way a person treats the people they live with, and LSD disturbs all of those things at the same time. Sleep is often the first to suffer. LSD can keep a person awake for many hours, and even after the drug has worn off, the mind may stay restless, replaying frightening or confusing moments from the experience. A night without proper sleep leaves the next day’s mood weaker before it has even begun. The person wakes up tired, finds it harder to stay calm, and is more likely to snap at a small irritation. Poor sleep then makes the next night harder too, because anxiety about not sleeping adds to the restlessness. It is a cycle that can take several nights to break, even when the drug itself is long gone.

Appetite and routine suffer in a similar way. During the hours that LSD is active, many people eat little or nothing, and they may drink too little water. The body becomes tired and dehydrated, and that physical state makes low mood worse. The next day, food may taste unappealing, or the person may feel too low to bother cooking or eating properly. A missed meal on its own is a small thing, but several days of poor food, poor water and poor sleep leave the brain with far less to work with. It is harder to think clearly, harder to stay patient, and harder to feel hopeful about the day ahead. Looking after the body is not a cure for mood problems, but it is a foundation, and when that foundation is weak, everything built on it is weaker too.

Work and study are where the wider damage often becomes visible. A person who feels anxious, low or irritable finds it harder to concentrate, harder to remember instructions, and harder to work with other people. Deadlines slip. Mistakes become more common. A student may sit in a lecture and hear the words without taking them in. A worker may start a task and find their mind drifting back to the frightening experience, or to the worry that the feelings will return. Colleagues and teachers may notice the change before the person does, and they may not understand what has caused it. The person may feel embarrassed about the drop in their work, which adds shame to the low mood, which makes the work harder still.

Everyday pleasures can also feel dulled for a while, and that is a loss that people do not always name. Music that normally lifts the mood can feel flat. A walk that normally clears the head can feel like an effort. A joke that would normally make a person laugh can fall flat. This dulling is not permanent for most people, but while it lasts it can make life feel grey and unrewarding, and it can make the bright, intense feeling of the drug seem more attractive by comparison. The honest answer is that ordinary pleasures return as the brain recovers, especially when the person keeps a regular routine, gets outside, eats and sleeps properly, and spends time with people they trust. Those ordinary things are slow, and they are not exciting, but they are the things that rebuild a steady mood, day by day.

My Take:

I will be honest with you about what worries me most in this article, and it is not the strange colours or the odd sounds that people talk about when they describe LSD. It is the way the drug takes away a person’s trust in their own feelings. In ordinary life, your feelings are a guide. If you feel frightened, there is usually a reason, and you can look for it. If you feel happy, you can enjoy it and know roughly why it is there. LSD breaks that link. Feelings arrive at full strength with no clear reason, and they change without warning. That, to me, is a frightening thing to do to your own mind, because once you have learned that your feelings cannot be trusted, it is hard to feel safe inside your own head again.

I think the mood swing is the part that people underestimate before they try LSD, and the part they remember most clearly afterwards. They expect a single feeling, perhaps joy or wonder, and they are not ready for joy to turn into fear in the space of a few minutes, or for a small worry to grow into panic. I have read account after account in which the person says the same thing in different words: I did not know which feeling was real. That is a heavy price to pay for a few hours of intensity, and I do not think it is a price that is talked about honestly enough. The drug is often described as mind expanding, but from everything I have read, it often feels more like mind unravelling, and the person is left to pick up the pieces afterwards.

The crash is the part I find most unfair, because it arrives when the person is already tired and has no energy left to cope with it. The high feels generous while it lasts, and then it takes everything back and leaves the person lower than they started. I think that is a cruel bargain. Ordinary happiness, the kind that comes from a good meal, a walk with a friend, a piece of work done well, does not punish you afterwards. It leaves you a little better than it found you. LSD does the opposite. It gives you a bright, loud feeling and then leaves you flat, tearful and exhausted, and the contrast makes ordinary life feel dull for days. I understand why a person in that flat state might want to take it again, and I think that is exactly the trap. The drug creates the low mood, and then offers itself as the cure for the low mood it created.

Anxiety is the effect I take most seriously, because it can outlast the drug by weeks or months. A bad experience on LSD is not like a bad dream that fades when you wake up. The brain remembers the fear, and it can keep replaying it, especially at night, when the mind is quiet and there is nothing to distract it. I think about the people who lie awake worrying that the fear will come back, and how that worry itself becomes a new problem, separate from the drug. Sleep gets worse, work gets harder, and the person starts to avoid the places and situations that remind them of the experience. Life gets smaller, not larger, and that is the opposite of what the drug promised.

I also think about the people around the person who took LSD, because they are often forgotten in this conversation. A partner who never knows which mood will walk through the door. A parent who watches their child become irritable and withdrawn and does not know what has changed. A friend who says the wrong thing by accident and is met with anger they did not deserve. These are real harms, and they do not show up in a medical chart. They show up in a home that feels tense, in a relationship that feels fragile, in a family that is walking carefully around someone they love. I do not think it is fair to call that a personal choice, because the choice does not stay personal. It spreads to everyone who shares a home or a life with that person.

Low mood after LSD worries me for a different reason. I think many people who are already feeling low are drawn to LSD because they hope it will lift them, or help them see their problems differently. I understand that hope, and I have sympathy for it. Life can be hard, and when ordinary help feels slow or out of reach, a drug that promises a sudden change can look tempting. But the evidence, and the stories, point the other way. LSD does not make sadness easier to carry. It makes it louder, less predictable and harder to put down. If a person is already struggling, the last thing they need is a drug that weakens the very judgement they need to cope with their feelings. I would rather see that person talk to a doctor, a counsellor or a trusted friend, even if that help feels slower, because slow help that works is better than a fast experience that leaves you worse.

I want to say something plainly about the idea that LSD is not addictive, because I think that idea gives people a false sense of safety. It is true that LSD does not usually cause the kind of physical dependence that some other drugs cause, where the body shakes or sweats without the drug. But addiction is not only about the body. It is also about the mind wanting to return to a feeling, especially when ordinary life feels flat by comparison. A person who keeps using LSD to escape a low mood, or to feel wonder again, is caught in a pattern, even if their body does not demand the drug in the same way. I think we should be honest about that, because honesty is what helps people recognise a problem early, before it has done more damage.

If someone I cared about asked me about LSD and mood, I would not lecture them. I would ask them what they are hoping for, and I would listen to the answer, because the answer usually tells you what is missing in their life. If they want joy, I would ask what has stopped them feeling joy in ordinary things. If they want escape, I would ask what they are trying to escape from. If they want to understand themselves better, I would say that understanding comes from talking, thinking and living, not from a drug that scrambles the brain for hours and leaves you to sort out the mess afterwards. I know that sounds slower and less exciting, and it is. But it is also real, and it lasts, and it does not leave you frightened of your own feelings.

I think the most important thing to remember is that mood is not a small thing. It shapes how you treat the people you love, how you do your work, how you sleep and how you see your future. A drug that can change your mood without warning, and leave it changed for days or weeks, is a drug that can change your life in ways you did not choose. That is not a small risk. It is a large one, and it deserves to be taken seriously. I would rather people understood that before they tried LSD than discovered it afterwards, when they are already dealing with the anxiety, the low mood and the broken trust that the drug left behind.

Finally, I want to say this to anyone who is already struggling with mood after LSD. You are not weak, and you are not alone. The brain can recover, and with the right help it usually does, but recovery takes time, rest and support, not more of the drug that caused the problem. Talk to a doctor, even if it feels awkward. Tell someone you trust what happened, even if it is hard to find the words. Give yourself regular sleep, regular meals and a calm routine, and be patient with yourself while your mood settles. The feelings you are having are real, they have a real cause, and they deserve real help. Asking for that help is not a failure. It is the most sensible thing you can do, and it is the first step back to feeling like yourself again.

I think sleep deserves more attention than it usually gets in this conversation, because so much of mood depends on it. A brain that has not slept properly cannot regulate feelings well, and LSD robs a person of sleep for a whole night and often leaves the next night restless too. I have seen how a single bad night can make an ordinary person irritable and low, so it is no surprise that a drug that steals sleep and disturbs the mind leaves a person feeling far worse. If you are trying to recover, the most useful thing you can do is also the least dramatic: go to bed at a regular time, keep the room dark and quiet, and give your brain the rest it needs to settle. It will not fix everything on its own, but without it, nothing else works as well as it should.

I also think we should be honest about why young people are drawn to LSD in the first place. Many of them are not looking for trouble. They are looking for wonder, for a feeling that life is bigger and more meaningful than the routine they live in. I understand that longing, and I do not think it is foolish. The world can feel small and grey, especially when you are young and life feels limited. But LSD does not give you a bigger life. It gives you a few hours of intensity and then leaves you with a smaller one, because your mood is less steady, your sleep is worse, and ordinary things feel duller. A bigger life comes from real things: learning something difficult, helping someone, making something, travelling, talking honestly with a friend. Those things are slower, and they do not glow, but they last, and they do not punish you afterwards.

There is a comparison I keep coming back to, between the happiness LSD gives and the happiness that comes from ordinary life. Ordinary happiness is quiet. It does not shout. It comes from a meal shared with family, a walk in fresh air, a piece of work finished well, a child laughing. It leaves you a little better than it found you, and it can be repeated the next day without harm. The happiness LSD gives is loud and bright, but it is borrowed, and it has to be paid back with interest in the form of tiredness, low mood and anxiety. I think that is a bad deal, and I think most people would see it as a bad deal if it were explained to them plainly before they tried it. The trouble is that it is usually explained afterwards, when the price has already been paid.

I want to say something about asking for help early, because I think delay makes everything worse. Many people wait for weeks, hoping the anxiety or the low mood will pass on its own, and while they wait, the problem settles in and becomes harder to shift. Sleep gets worse, work suffers, relationships strain, and the person starts to believe that this is simply how they are now. It is not. It is how they are after a drug that disturbed their brain, and with proper help the brain can usually settle again. A doctor will not judge you for having used LSD. They have heard it before, and their job is to help, not to lecture. The sooner you talk to them, the sooner you can start to recover, and the less damage the problem can do in the meantime.

Finally, I would ask you to be careful about the stories you hear that make LSD sound safe, or wise, or harmless. Some of those stories come from people who had a pleasant experience and did not have a bad one, and they remember only the pleasant part. Some come from people who have used LSD many times and do not want to admit that it has harmed them. And some come from people who are selling an idea, not telling the truth. A single good experience does not make a drug safe, any more than a single safe crossing makes a busy road safe. The risk is real, it is unpredictable, and it falls on the person who takes the drug and on the people who love them. I would rather you heard that plainly now than learned it the hard way, in the weeks after a bad experience, when your mood will not settle and you are wondering what went wrong.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do LSD mood changes last?

The strongest mood changes usually last for the hours that LSD is active in the body, often most of a day, but the after-effects can last longer. Many people feel low, tired, anxious or irritable for a day or two afterwards, and for some people that unsettled feeling lasts for a week or more. In a small number of cases, anxiety or low mood can continue for weeks or months, especially after a frightening experience or repeated use. If mood problems are still present after two weeks, or are getting worse, it is important to talk to a health professional rather than waiting longer.

Does LSD make anger worse?

Yes, LSD can make anger worse, both during the experience and in the days afterwards. During the drug’s effects, the brain’s normal brakes on strong feelings are weaker, so a small irritation can grow quickly into intense anger before the person has time to think it through. Afterwards, tiredness, poor sleep and low mood can leave a person short-tempered and easily annoyed by things that would not normally bother them. This irritability usually fades as the brain recovers, but if anger keeps causing problems at home or at work, professional help is worth seeking.

Can LSD change your mood?

Yes, LSD can change mood in a strong and unpredictable way. It acts on the brain systems that regulate mood, especially the serotonin system, and it weakens the brain’s ability to keep feelings in proportion. A person may feel very happy, then suddenly feel frightened, sad or angry, without any clear outside reason. The changes can happen quickly and can feel out of control. Even people who expected a pleasant experience can find their mood turning dark, which is why LSD is considered risky for mood, whatever the person’s hopes beforehand.

Can LSD cause depression?

LSD does not cause depression in everyone, but it can trigger or worsen low mood and depression, especially in people who already live with depression or who have a family history of it. The drug can bring painful thoughts to the surface, and the crash after the high can leave a person feeling flat and hopeless for days. In some people, low mood after LSD lasts much longer and needs professional treatment. LSD should never be used as a way to treat depression, because it can make the problem worse rather than better.

Why does LSD make you feel low afterwards?

The low feeling afterwards has several causes working together. The brain has been pushed far beyond its normal range for many hours, and it needs time to settle back. The body is often tired, short of sleep and short of food and water. The contrast between the intense high and ordinary life can also make everyday things feel dull and disappointing. Together, these effects leave many people feeling flat, tearful or empty the day after, and sometimes for several days. Rest, food, water and time usually help, but a low mood that does not lift should be discussed with a doctor.

Does LSD cause anxiety?

Yes, anxiety is one of the most common effects of LSD. During the experience, it can appear as intense fear or panic, often called a bad trip, and it can last for hours because the drug lasts for hours. After the drug wears off, some people feel nervous, on edge or easily startled for days, and sleep can become difficult. In a smaller number of people, anxiety can last much longer and may need professional help. Anyone whose anxiety is severe, lasting, or getting worse after LSD should talk to a health professional.

Sources

This article is general information only. It is not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your health, talk to a qualified health professional.