A bare room. A few lit candles, several beds on the floor. Everyone wears a blindfold. Soothing music in the ears. “At that moment, for the first time in my life, I felt my body, from head to toe, with very pleasant sensations. An unconditional love for myself and all that I have experienced that is difficult overwhelms me. It’s a dive into a lot of sweetness. » When Laura (1), 48, recounts her first psychedelic “trip”, her blue eyes light up.
The Swiss has come a long way since she pushed the door of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) to benefit from psychedelic therapy. “When I arrived in February, I had daily anxieties, compulsive eating disorders, I couldn’t sleep anymore…” Laura has suffered from chronic depression since she was 16. She followed more than thirty different therapies, took several antidepressant treatments… without improvement of her condition.
Sessions that last between six and ten hours
For this type of patient, the HUG psychiatry department has been offering “psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies”. In Switzerland, the legislation provides for a “compassionate access” to these illicit substances, only for patients in “therapeutic impasse”. “An authorization is issued on a case-by-case basis by the Federal Office of Public Health”, explains Gabriel Thorens, psychiatrist in the HUG addiction service.
After a medical check-up and a preparatory session, the product is administered on an outpatient basis in the hospital. The session lasts from six hours for psilocybin (from hallucinogenic mushrooms) or MDMA (ecstasy) to about ten hours under LSD. “Each patient experiences things differently. It ranges from a strong experience with a sense of ego dissolution, a feeling of being part of a bigger whole, to visual distortions, a feeling of comfort. » Often, the person relives difficult moments of his life. A carer is always present to prevent any risk.
“An enhancer of the psychotherapeutic process”
For Laura, who received six doses of MDMA in eight months, “there was a real before and after: today, I no longer have a depressive state or anxiety”. A long-term work, which is done by “successive layers, like an onion being peeled. With the first take, I was able to start functioning again, with the second take, I started breathing again, after the third, I started laughing again… Until I managed to live fully”.
“This type of molecule works as an enhancer of the psychotherapeutic process”, explains Gabriel Thorens. They would make it easier to access the unconscious contents of the mind, to consider its difficulties from a new angle. But he insists: “If there is no psychotherapeutic follow-up afterwards, it will have no effect. »