Flashbacks: a personal follow-up

During the period 1971-1973, it was found that 53 out of 91 young drug abusers in a psychiatric hospital had experienced flashbacks. This applied to as many as 50 out of the 65 patients who had used LSD, but also to abusers of organic solvents and cannabis. As many as 38% of the patients were found to be severely incapacitated by their flashbacks. On a personal follow-up 1 1/2-4 years after the first therapeutic contact, 35 patients were still troubled by flashbacks. On the whole reactions were less intense than at the time of the first contact. No relation between the flashbacks and protracted psychotic development could be established. The overall clinical and social course was worse for patients with flashbacks than for the rest of the population. Patients still bothered by flashbacks used drugs and alcohol as sedatives to a greater extent than the rest.