LSD, Therapy, and the Courage to See Yourself
Swiss psychiatrist Peter Gasser studied medicine at the universities of Fribourg and Bern. After several years in hospitals and psychiatric clinics, he became a certified psychiatrist and psychotherapist. For almost 30 years he has run his own practice in Solothurn, Switzerland, combining a conventional medical background with a quietly revolutionary interest: the therapeutic use of LSD.
Peter conducted the first therapeutic study with LSD examining LSD-assisted psychotherapy after the substance was criminalized worldwide around 1970.
I first met Peter in 2014 when I travelled to Solothurn to interview him for a paper I was writing on LSD. I was studying social work at the time and I picked a controversial topic just to see if it would make my university sweat.
Two weeks after my interview, The New York Times ran a piece about Peter titled “LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy.” The following conversation took place in 2021 and has not been published until now.
Marcel: Peter, why were you suddenly in the spotlight back then?
Peter: Because I was able to conduct the first psychotherapy study in the world using LSD-assisted therapy after a break of more than thirty-five years. The study ran from 2008 to 2012, and when we published the results in 2014, The New York Times took notice. The project was supported by MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in the United States, which helped fund and design the research.
Marcel: Around that time I wrote a paper in German that translates roughly as “LSD Against Alcoholism: Effective Treatment or a Risky Way to Get High Without Therapeutic Value?” After our conversation I even thought about trying LSD myself and writing about it, but my university was horrified. My professor was afraid of ending up in the tabloids. LSD still seemed taboo.
Peter: MAPS believed such a study could never have been approved in the United States. The reputation of LSD was, and perhaps still is, too poor. As for your professor, I can understand her hesitation. From her perspective, you would have broken the law for the sake of an academic experiment.
Marcel: Eventually I gathered my courage and took LSD. I was terrified. The experience was exhausting. After a confusing start, my whole life came rushing back, especially the parts I did not want to see. I even cried and felt guilty for some stuff I did to other people.
Peter: Yes, that is what LSD does. It confronts you, not only with beauty and awe but also with what is buried and unresolved. It can be painful. Anyone looking only for pleasure will probably be disappointed.
Marcel: There were beautiful moments too: a feeling of deep connection, vivid colours, and music that felt almost divine. But I could only enjoy that near the end. It felt like the opposite of alcohol. With LSD, the hangover comes first.
Peter: I would not call it a hangover. With alcohol, the hangover is a toxic after-effect. With LSD, the difficult phase is part of the process. It is you meeting yourself. The art is to integrate what you see, not to treat it like something to wash away.
Marcel: 2014 was a rough year for me. I had just begun my social work studies, was working nights, and became a father unexpectedly. I struggled with that role. I had never wanted children and felt unprepared for what came with it.
The Swiss authorities probably would not like to hear it, but LSD helped me become a father, or at least, as Winnicott would say, a good enough one. The experience helped me come to terms with my new life. The day after I took LSD was the clearest of my life. I even quit smoking without meaning to.
I am not saying it is a miracle drug for everyone and everything. It is a powerful substance that can do good, but only in the right hands.
Peter: That is a beautiful story. If LSD helped you become a good enough father, then it did something profound. Parenthood is one of the hardest tasks there is. And yes, there are studies, mostly from the 1960s, showing that LSD can help with addiction, especially alcoholism. They would not meet today’s strict standards, but their results were encouraging.
Marcel: The problem, of course, is that not everyone uses it responsibly. In the 1960s, people took LSD at parties. There were accidents. Jimi Hendrix apparently even drove under the influence.
Peter: Exactly. In therapy the context is completely different. We guide patients through the experience in a safe, quiet environment. We talk with them and make sure they are stable before they leave. Party use is uncontrolled and sometimes dangerous. Still, considering how many people have taken psychedelics, serious complications are surprisingly rare.
LSD therapy, in my view, helps wherever psychotherapy helps. LSD is not the therapy itself. It is a catalyst, a kind of microscope that allows people to see their inner world more clearly. It can even open experiences beyond one’s personal history, what some would call spiritual insight.
Marcel: I have always admired what Cary Grant did, his LSD sessions under supervision. Of course, that would be illegal today, but I think it could help many people with mental health issues if done properly. Who would be suitable for such therapy?
Peter: The more relevant question might be who should not. People prone to psychosis, for example those with schizophrenia, should avoid LSD. It alters perception and reality, which can be dangerous for someone already struggling to stay grounded.
Marcel: Albert Hofmann once said, “You need a runway when you come down from an LSD trip.” What did he mean?
Peter: I do not know the exact quote, but I imagine he meant stability: emotional, social, and relational stability. If you live in chaos or loneliness, there is nowhere to land. You return from great heights to a world that feels grey and harsh. LSD itself is not the transformation. It is what you do with it afterward that matters. You need a life that can hold you while you integrate what you have seen.
Marcel: Is that not paradoxical then? Hofmann said you need a stable core, but people with psychological problems often lack one.
Peter: Not all of them. Many people with depression or anxiety do have a stable core. It is those with psychotic disorders who do not. For them, LSD can be destabilising.
Marcel: Timothy Leary was in that same TV conversation with Hofmann. Hofmann did not seem to like him much. But could it be that without Leary and the 1960s counterculture, LSD would be legal today?
Peter: Interestingly, Hofmann always spoke of Leary—at least to me—with respect. He said Leary exaggerated and became too much of a preacher, but he never condemned him. Without the cultural explosion of the 1960s, LSD might well still be a legal medicine. The recreational boom damaged its reputation and led to prohibition. Sadly, that also ended the medical research, which I consider a great mistake.
Marcel: I heard Hofmann once wrote to Steve Jobs in 2007, asking him to support your research.
Peter: That is true. Hofmann sent him a letter asking for funding. Jobs never replied, probably because he received countless such requests. The letter may never have reached him.
Marcel: Hofmann was a legend. How did you meet him?
Peter: I met him two months before his 101st birthday and saw him five times before he died. Each meeting was unforgettable. He was wise, clear, curious, and still full of life. He even asked about my family, which I did not expect from someone so famous and so old.
Marcel: How did you personally discover LSD?
Peter: Almost by chance. During my psychiatric training I heard that a few doctors in Switzerland were still allowed to work with psychedelics. I arranged to have an experience myself. It was deeply moving, a confrontation with parts of myself I had not known. That personal experience became the seed of my professional interest.
Marcel: Does it bother you to be seen as a scientific outsider?
Peter: Not at all. I do not really see myself as a scientist. I am a therapist who became a researcher because it was the only legal path to work with LSD. The study was approved, which was a great success. I started as an outsider, yes, but today they call me a pioneer. That is simply the flattering version of the same word.
Marcel: What kind of therapy do you practice now?
Peter: In my practice in Solothurn I treat the full spectrum, from severe illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder to burnout, depression, and existential crises. In the end, it is all the same human struggle: learning to see yourself clearly and finding the courage to stay with what you see.