We interviewed the renowned psychiatrist, Peter Gasser, who conducted the first clinical study on the therapeutic use of LSD after research on psychedelics was outlawed in the 1960s.
Dr. Gasser was one of those few physicians who received individual permissions from Swiss authorities in the 1990s to work with psychedelics in treating mental health issues. From 2007 to 2012 he conducted the first clinical trial on psychedelic-assisted therapy after decades of criminalisation and demonisation of these substances. His study opened the door to a new wave of psychedelic research that is now described as the psychedelic renaissance.
In this interview, filmed at the last International Psychedelic Research Conference in Haarlem, Dr. Gasser explains:
- how LSD is used in individual- and group-therapy settings;
- how do they make sure to prepare clients for the sessions;
- how can therapists cope with exhaustion after a long session;
- whether a therapist needs lived experience with psychedelics;
- if we can separate the therapeutic effect of the substance from the “trip”.
