title: LSD enhances the emotional response to music.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). LSD was used extensively in the 1950s and 1960s as an adjunct in psychotherapy, reportedly enhancing emotionality. Music is an effective tool to evoke and study emotion and is considered an important element in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy; however, the hypothesis that psychedelics enhance the emotional response to music has yet to be investigated in a modern placebo-controlled study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study sought to test the hypothesis that music-evoked emotions are enhanced under LSD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten healthy volunteers listened to five different tracks of instrumental music during each of two study days, a placebo day followed by an LSD day, separated by 5-7 days. Subjective ratings were completed after each music track and included a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the nine-item Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS-9).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results demonstrated that the emotional response to music is enhanced by LSD, especially the emotions "wonder", "transcendence", "power" and "tenderness".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings reinforce the long-held assumption that psychedelics enhance music-evoked emotion, and provide tentative and indirect support for the notion that this effect can be harnessed in the context of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Further research is required to test this link directly.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology, Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK, m.kaelen@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaelen
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roseman
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lorenz
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Family
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bolstridge
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Feilding
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Nutt
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Carhart-Harris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006213:Hallucinogens / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects
chemical_list: D006213:Hallucinogens; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide