Psychedelics seem to become legitimate psychiatric treatment, with potential regulatory approvals on the horizon. The effectiveness of these treatments is attributed to their combination with psychotherapy, a topic currently at the forefront of scientific debate. This presentation will critically examine the role of psychotherapy in psychedelic treatments, exploring the synergy that defines their efficacy. It will address common misconceptions, discuss both supporting and challenging perspectives, and assess the role of psychotherapy in optimizing treatment outcomes.

Andrea Siclari is one of the very first people to ever be part of a psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) in Switzerland. When in 2019 at just 36 years old he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, he signed up for one of the first ever LSD studies for Patients with Anxiety related to life-threatening illnesses by Dr. Peter Gasser, a study that has since been crucial in the advancement of PAT. His firsthand experience with psychedelic-assisted therapy, both individually and in group settings, has given him unique insight into its potential for patients facing life-threatening illnesses. His admirable openness and advocacy have led him to share his story in the documentary “Temps Présents” and deliver talks on the subject, including a patient testimony at the European Parliament as part of the European Citizens PsychedeliCare Initiative. Today, Andrea stands as a powerful voice for patient perspectives in psychedelic therapy and we are inviting you to join us in our discussion on the future of mental health treatment!

Gregor Hasler, M.D. was born in Basel, Switzerland. He studied medicine at the University of Zurich and did his psychiatric residency in Paris, London, Lausanne and Zurich, before receiving his medical degree in 1995. Professor Jules Angst of Zurich trained him in psychiatric epidemiology. From 2003 to 2006, he was a visiting scientist at the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, specializing in molecular neuroimaging. Since 2010, he has been a full professor of psychiatry at the University of Bern and Chief Medical Officer at the Psychiatric University Hospital of Bern. As of January 2019, he became a full professor and chair of psychiatry at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where he is currently a practicing psychiatrist specializing in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and head of the Psychiatry Research Department at the University of Fribourg where he supervises researchers in psychiatric and psychedelic research. As President of the Swiss Society for Bipolar Disorders and the Swiss Society of Pharmacovigilance in Psychiatry and as the Secretary of the Affective Disorders Section of the World Psychiatric Association, he has been organizing scientific conferences, educational courses and advanced training for many years.

DMT and harmine are key psychoactive components of ayahuasca, a traditional plant medicine with growing relevance in psychiatric research. This talk will present research from the Psychedelic Research & Therapy Development Lab at the University of Zurich, where novel ayahuasca-inspired pharmaceutical formulations are developed and tested in clinical trials. Klemens Egger’s PhD research at UZH focused on the pharmacology and neurobiology of DMT and harmine, integrating preclinical studies on their brain interactions with human trials assessing the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, neurobiological effects, and safety of an orodispersible DMT+harmine formulation. His work included dose-finding studies and neuroimaging investigations using fMRI and FDG-PET to examine the formulation’s effects on brain activity, connectivity, and metabolism. This talk will delve into the study designs and key findings, providing insights into the development of psychedelic-based treatments and their potential applications in clinical populations.

Description will follow.

For decades, most rhetoric about psychedelics focused on their negative effects. This might make it seem like we know all there is to know about bad reactions to psychedelics - but how much do we really know? In this talk, our speaker aims to separate fact from fiction and give an update on the unwanted, negative effects that can occur with psychedelics, in all settings. Abigal will start by outlining the range of possible negative effects, from brief delusions to longer-lasting psychological difficulties. Next, she will discuss the prevalence of the most concerning negative effects using new data from two different studies, as well as what puts people at greater risk of these outcomes. On the way, she will touch on some special topics that don’t get much attention, including the prevalence of true hallucinations on psychedelics, the role of people’s beliefs about psychedelics, and whether some psychedelics are more prone to causing problems than others. Despite the gloomy subject, Abigail hopes to end on an optimistic note and leave you with an idea of how researchers, clinicians, and everyone else involved with this young field can help prevent and cope with the reality of adverse reactions to psychedelics in the future.

Psilocybin is intensively researched in the treatment of depressive disorders with promising results. This presentation will be about the final results of a large investigator initiated trial, the German EPIsoDE trial. The EPIsoDE trial (EudraCT: 2019-003984-24) is a phase 2b, bicentric, randomized, double-blind, active placebo-controlled parallel-group study investigating the effects of a high-dose psilocybin (25 mg) and a low-dose psilocybin (5 mg) versus an active placebo (100 mg nicotinamide) administered orally in a psychotherapeutic context in 144 patients with Treatment-Resistant major Depression (TRD). Due to its innovative design, all patients received at least one supposedly therapeutic psilocybin dose (25 mg), thereby accounting for unblinding and potential nocebo effects – some of the most important methodological drawbacks in psychedelic trials. Besides the study rationale and final results, important implications for psychedelic clinical trials will be discussed, particularly when conducted in vulnerable patient populations that are often characterized by chronicity of disease, adverse childhood experiences, interpersonal traumatization and limited resources.