One case, outlined in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, describes a girl with bipolar II disorder, who had long-lasting, surprisingly good after-effects following an overdose. She had in the past suffered from hallucinations, had a history of paranoia, hypomania and severe depression, and had lived a turbulent life, moving schools due to "disruptive and defiant behavior" aged 13.

At a party in 2000 (when she was 15), she and 19 other people were given a dose 10 times what the supplier intended, due to a bit of a decimal place whoopsie. The 20 people were supposed to be given a 100 micrograms dose (what is considered a normal recreational dose) but were given 1,000 mcg in liquid form. Once she'd drunk her glass, she also drank the "leftover drops" from two other glasses.

Reports from others around her say that her behavior for the next 6.5 hours was "erratic". After this, people believed she had had a seizure as she was lying down in the fetal position with her fists tightly clenched, and an ambulance was called. However, "it was unclear whether she had a loss of consciousness or whether she was intensely preoccupied with her experience at the time," the authors write.

Visiting her in hospital, her father reports that she told him "it's over", which he believed to mean her trip. She later clarified she had meant her bipolar disorder.

Bearing in mind you can't extrapolate too much from one incident, her therapists reported significant improvements in her symptoms following the overdose. Over the course of several years they described her as “entirely stable at present” and though she had come off lithium, which created more mood instability, she showed "no evidence of clinical hypomania or depression”. She self-reported that she was free from mental illness symptoms for the next 13 years, until she experienced post-partum depression after the birth of her children.

"This case report documents a significant improvement in mood symptoms, including reductions in mania with psychotic features, following an accidental LSD overdose, changes that have been sustained for almost 20 years," the authors write.