We’ll learn about LSD’s potential for treating anxiety in 2026

Two large studies examining the potential of the psychedelic drug LSD to reduce… anxiety scheduled for completion in 2026. Scientists are optimistic after the drug's success in early-stage trials could mean the treatment could be available in the US as early as 2027.

Generalized anxiety disorder is a common condition in which people experience severe anxiety about many different things. It is usually treated with antidepressants and talk therapy, but about half of people do not respond to this treatment.

Other psychedelics drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA are already used to treat particularly severe cases of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in some countries such as Australia and Switzerland. LSD is increasingly being studied as a psychic substance. health treatment, in part because studies show it causes deep emotional experiences some people, and it seems improve the brain's ability to rewire itself and form new thinking models.

In 2025, a landmark test showed that a single high dose of LSD relieved moderate to severe anxiety. for at least three months.

These findings are now the basis of two later-stage studies, with results expected in 2026. Both involve about 200 people with moderate to severe anxiety who will take either LSD tablets that add up to a 100-microgram dose or placebo tablets. Their anxiety levels will be monitored for three months after the day of their appointment.

Then, in the second 10-month phase of the study, all participants – including those who initially took placebo pills – will be offered LSD whenever they report their anxiety reaching a certain threshold on a standard scale. This will help determine how long the effects of one dose last, he says. and Carlin at the biotech company MindMed in New York, which was involved in the 2025 study and both upcoming ones.

The key difference between the two trials is that the second also involves a third group of participants receiving a 50 microgram dose of LSD. A 2025 trial demonstrated that this dose produced mind-altering effects such as hallucinations, but did not reduce anxiety beyond the placebo effect. Including this group should help address a major limitation of most psychedelic trials: Participants can often tell whether they took the drug.

Those in the third group may realize they took LSD but won't know whether it was at the right dose to reduce anxiety, helping to untangle the placebo effect, says Sandeep Nayak at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Maryland, which is not participating in the trial.

If they both produce positive results, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could approve LSD for treating anxiety in the U.S. as early as 2027, paving the way for potential approval in Europe and beyond, Carlin says.

“If the next tests lead to something similar to the previous ones [in 2025]then that should be enough for the FDA,” says Boris Kheifetz at Stanford University.

“Generally, a difference of 3 to 5 points on the anxiety scale used by the team between the placebo and psychedelic groups is considered enough to have a significant impact on people's lives,” says Nayak. Because the 2025 trial showed a difference of about 5 points, future trials have a good chance of reaching that threshold, although any benefits will have to be weighed against their duration and any side effects, he says.

For example, if a treatment causes temporary psychological distress, the FDA may consider it a tolerable side effect, but likely won't deal with long-term stress, Nayak says. However, the latter did not appear in the 2025 trial.

But even if this approach wins approval, it will likely be several years before LSD becomes widely available to treat anxiety, Nayak says, and even then it will likely be used only after standard treatments have failed. This is mainly due to practical difficulties, such as the need for doctors to monitor people for several hours while they are on a psychedelic trip, he says.