A rigorous new study finds that a single dose of LSD can ease anxiety and depression for months in people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a disabling form of anxiety affecting about 1 in 10 people over the course of a year. The study involved 198 adults and was conducted across 22 outpatient psychiatric research sites.
Participants receiving lower doses of LSD (25 or 50 micrograms) did no better than those receiving placebo. However, people who received higher doses (100 or 200 micrograms) responded quickly, with strong improvements showing by the next day that persisted through the 12-week study period, according to researchers reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Generalized anxiety disorder involves extreme worry or dread that interferes with functioning and is characterized by continuous worry, inability to relax, and physical manifestations including racing heart rates and sweatiness. It is frequently accompanied by depression. Current antidepressant and antianxiety drugs are inadequate for about half of people diagnosed with GAD.
The study tested a proprietary form of LSD called MM120, developed by the company MindMed. Participants were more likely to improve if they received a dose high enough to induce a psychedelic experience, with higher doses also more likely to lift depression. The medication creates what people might call a trip, with the ability to alter perceptions and cause people to see, hear, or feel things that aren’t there—a very different mechanism from conventional treatments like Prozac or Zoloft.
Some researchers note questions about the role of non-drug factors in the treatment outcomes, such as the sensory environment in which people were treated, the presence of dosing session monitors, and standardized music and eyeshades offered during sessions. The FDA has granted MM120 “breakthrough therapy” status to speed up evaluation, and MindMed has launched Phase 3 studies with completion expected in 2026.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/05/nx-s1-5529325/one-dose-lsd-generalized-anxiety-disorder-psychedelics