Thread: Woman receives compensation for LSD treatment (Norway)

Compensation for LSD treatment

A 67-year-old woman is believed to have become the first Norwegian to receive compensation for the ongoing ill effects she has suffered for nearly 40 years after being treated with the hallucinogenic drug LSD in the 1960s.

Newspaper Aftenposten reported that Gerd Knutsen has received NOK 200,000 (USD 36,000) after health officials determined there is no doubt that she has suffered “flashbacks” from the LSD treatment she was given at Modum Bads Nervesanatorium in 1964.

It was among several health care institutions in Norway that used LSD to treat hundreds of patients with nerve or psychiatric problems. In Knutsen’s case, she had been admitted to the sanitarium at Modum because of anxiety over attending school and what were termed attacks of “hysterics.” Aftenposten reported that staff at Modum gave her LSD to see what it “could give.” Knutsen claims the treatments were “terrible” and that “I was destroyed.”

There has been no specific compensation program for those treated with LSD between 1959 and 1975. Knutsen has since been diagnosed with psychiatric disturbances because of flashbacks caused by use of the hallucinogenic drug, which she said can last for up to an hour and leave her sobbing. She’s glad to receive compensation through a general program to cover medical malpractice, but thinks NOK 200,000 is very little.

“I won’t complain, but what is that sum for a ruined life,” she told Aftenposten. Officials at Modum Bad declined comment.

http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/08/31/ ... treatment/

Well... I think's that's a pity to complain for flashbacks due to an missed LSD-therapy.

According to Stan Grof, Flashbacks are due to some subconscious material that has not been treated yet and come back on its own. One needs to work it out in further LSD sessions and the flashbacks would cease.

A ruined life for a bad LSD-therapy... quite great for the reputation of serious therapists who would never give LSD to see "what it could give".

Some make the same thing today with ayahuasca… And they break lives, (i am pilot).
I understand this poor woman, and is clear that money does not replace a serious traumatism...

What was under question?

The damage of the drug administerd or the Therapy recieved?

Not as black and white as some would make you believe...

its important to remember LSD was much more potent back then in terms of the amount taken. So for someone who has never done psychedlics, taking a high dose of LSD repeatedley is risky. This story just goes to show the responsibilty you have to take when your dealing with these substances.