--- title: LSD Might Make You More Creative description: New research into the illegal drug has found eye- and mind-opening results canonical: https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/ author: IDEAS Desk article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-23T18:18:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:13.609Z article:section: Ideas og:title: LSD Might Make You More Creative og:description: A small study found some trippy results og:url: https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d620ce4d32d9a4/6988a360196cf45a6403cf06/lsd-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: LSD og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: LSD Might Make You More Creative twitter:description: A small study found some trippy results twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d620ce4d32d9a4/6988a360196cf45a6403cf06/lsd-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LSD Might Make You More Creative > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: A$AP Rocky Explains How LSD Influenced His Visuals [Watch (HLS stream): A$AP Rocky Explains How LSD Influenced His Visuals](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BXVqwktS.m3u8) (2:42)  _Published 2015-11-05. "I really want to give people drugs through music."_ by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Aug 23, 2016 6:18 PM UTC  25 Tabs of Avatar blotter acid. 25 Tabs of Avatar blotter acid.Farmer Images/Getty Images by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Aug 23, 2016 6:18 PM UTC Lysergic acid dyethylamide, which you probably know as LSD, has been put to various uses since its discovery in the 1930s: scientists have tried to treat mental illness; the CIA attempted to control minds; and recreational users, well, trip out. But the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 officially prohibited LSD, and scientific inquiries into its capabilities all but disappeared. Until recently. [While studies into LSD still face stigma](http://time.com/3896387/lsd-psychedelic-drugs/?iid=sr-link6)s, in the past several years, scientists have found potential small-scale, fascinating effects on perplexing regions of health, including[ addiction](http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-lsd-should-we-try-it-20160401-story.html), [depression](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/healing-trip-psychedelic-drugs-treat-depression) and [terminal cancer](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip-treatment). Studies have also taken on the drug’s cognitive repercussions; “You don’t recognize yourself as a separate being from the universe,” [as one study’s co-author told TIME in 2015](http://time.com/4292298/lsd-acid-trip-drugs-brain/?iid=sr-link1). Now the journal _Language, Cognition and Neuroscience_ has published [the first study—](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23273798.2016.1217030)and it’s a small one–since the 1960s to explore the relationship between the drug and language. Researchers at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany observed ten participants attempt to label a series of images when they had and hadn’t taken LSD. [As Science Daily explained](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160818090035.htm), quoting one of the scientists who conducted the research: --- > “” --- Family added that the findings might potentially help with therapeutic psychedelia used to help treat, among other illness, depression: “The effects of LSD on language can result in a cascade of associations that allow quicker access to far away concepts stored in the mind.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/"},"headline":"LSD Might Make You More Creative","datePublished":"2016-08-23T18:18:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:13.609Z","description":"A small study of the illegal drug has found eye- and mind-opening results","url":"https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/","keywords":["health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d620ce4d32d9a4/6988a360196cf45a6403cf06/lsd-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"IDEAS Desk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d620ce4d32d9a4/6988a360196cf45a6403cf06/lsd-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"LSD","caption":"LSD","creditText":"Farmer Images/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health/","name":"health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/","name":"LSD Might Make You More Creative"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A$AP Rocky Explains How LSD Influenced His Visuals","description":"\"I really want to give people drugs through music.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BXVqwktS/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-05T14:21:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BXVqwktS.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/","duration":"PT2M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4463136/lsd-research-creativity-depression/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```