Could LSD Theoretically Raise Your IQ?
Studying human intelligence is a touchy area. There are so many variables that determine one’s intelligence– or lack thereof. But scientists have for the first time started developing a list of criteria for quantifying and measuring human intelligence. So while reading this study about how intelligence develops and works I found myself asking, “so does this mean LSD could theoretically raise someone’s IQ levels?”
Now stay with me here. I’m not the type of person to believe psychedelics can solve world peace and turn hedonists into spiritual beings, but I might be onto something here. According to the study conducted by Jianfeng Feng in the Department of Computer Science at Warwick University, while trying to figure out exactly how intellect works and develops, she found that “the more variable a brain is, and the more its different parts frequently connect with each other, the higher a person’s IQ and creativity are”. Sure, some people have naturally creative or variable brains. But I’ve always had the understanding that psychedelics work by essentially opening pathways in your brain and allowing certain areas to communicate with other areas they don’t normally communicate with.
Sure, studying psychedelics– like human intelligence– isn’t easy. First of all they’re illegal, so you need certain permissions. Plus there are so many variables to take into consideration when studying how they affect the human brain. But if you take this general idea of how intelligence develops and the general idea of how psychedelics “work” then this means that drugs like LSD could in fact raise a person’s IQ level.
Jianfeng Feng also mentions that these kinds of studies on human intellect could be used as a gateway to better understanding and treating mental health. According to Feng, areas of the brain with “altered patterns of variability” are likely to result in mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, autism, and ADHD. So then I found myself reading an article from Medical Daily that includes a ton of research on the effects of LSD on mental health. According to the studies listed in the article, mental health patients who took LSD or other psychedelics were less likely to need other psychiatric drugs or outpatient treatment. Also, alcoholics who took psychedelics were less likely to relapse over time.
But psychedelics are a tricky thing. Maybe they help treat alcoholism and mental illness by creating new connections, or rewiring connections that weren’t firing properly. But then again, in certain individuals this could result in the opposite effect: frying your brain chemistry instead of fixing it. Plus most “LSD” as it’s called out there nowadays is nothing but crappy lab-made research chemicals. Yuck; and also totally not the same thing.
Now like I said, I don’t think psychedelics can save the world. They’re just drugs; they alter your reality just like any other drug. And while you’re on them, you’re kind of useless. But I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t taken any psychedelics in my late teens and early twenties I wouldn’t have developed the same sense of empathy I have today. If nothing else they certainly helped to break-down my angsty teenage ego and give me a more realistic perception of the world. So who knows, maybe in the long run they’ve helped a bit. Either way, figuring out how the brain works and how intellect develops are definitely areas worth researching. And if nothing else, studying how psychedelics work will at least give us a better understanding on how the brain works in general.
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Randi Nord lives in Pontiac, Michigan. She is a journalist for the The Fifth Column, co-founder of Geopolitics Alert, and co-hosts a podcast about geopolitics.