Research Posters

Mystical experiences are altered states of consciousness characterized by a profound sense of unity, transcendence of time and space, ineffability, and deeply felt noetic or sacred qualities. Historically associated with spiritual and religious traditions, these experiences have become a growing subject of scientific investigation within contemporary psychedelic research. In psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP), mystical-type experiences are frequently proposed as key mediators of therapeutic improvement and are commonly assessed using the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30). However, the phenomenology, historical foundations, and methodological limitations of this construct remain insufficiently discussed.

Background. Survivors of domestic violence (DV) and sexual abuse (SA) form one of the largest trauma populations worldwide, yet are largely absent from psychedelic/psychoactive-assisted therapy trials; where present, they are typically subsumed within heterogeneous PTSD samples. DV and SA produce a distinctive, interpersonal trauma organised around betrayal, shame and disrupted identity — features that symptom-reduction frameworks capture poorly. Post-traumatic growth (PTG), the positive psychological change that can emerge through the struggle with trauma, is rarely measured or treated as a legitimate therapeutic target in this field.

Psychedelic experiences can produce insights that arrive with complete conviction - felt not as conclusions reached, but as truths already known. This noetic certainty can be understood as a metacognitive feeling of epistemic gain: a felt signal that understanding has occurred even when the cognitive work that would ordinarily warrant it has not, leaving the mind to draw on available memories, interpretations and contextual cues to explain a certainty already felt. This conceptual work argues that the therapeutic mechanism and the central epistemic hazard are one event: the same felt certainty that appears to carry therapeutic change can also confer epistemic authority on convictions before that authority has been earned. Therapeutic benefit and epistemic hazard therefore cannot simply be tuned apart.

Our clinical research group for substance-assisted therapy at the UPK Basel includes professionals from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and clinical research. The main focus of our work is research on the effects of LSD, which we have been studying since 2014 in several studies. We examine efficacy, safety and possible positive long-term effects of LSD in mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. In the LYTA trial, together with the University of Bern, we will investigate LSD assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder in a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, active-placebo controlled phase II neuroimaging trial with a consecutive open-label phase.

Drawing on two anonymised situations from my independent practice, this poster explores hypnosis-informed integration and prevention. The first focuses on building a new internal foundation through work in a hypnotic state to integrate the experience into everyday life. The second raises concerns about easy access, fashionable labels and perceived lower costs overshadowing preparation, qualified support and follow-up. I encountered this person when significant instability was already present and recommended urgent psychiatric assessment.

Substance use disorders involving ketamine, cocaine, and alcohol are clinically challenging, with high relapse rates and few effective pharmacological options. We report a 30-year-old man with a five-year history of severe polysubstance dependence, including daily intranasal ketamine use of 2–3 g/day, cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, and recurrent depressive disorder. Despite conventional psychiatric treatment, severe craving persisted and the patient sought medically supervised ibogaine-assisted treatment in Mexico.

Psychedelic science has substantially advanced our understanding of therapeutic applications and neural correlates, yet extreme psychedelic states remain comparatively unexplored. In particular, ultra-high-dose states characterized by profound ego dissolution, timelessness, experiences of the “void,” seemingly autonomous entities, and radically altered perceptions of self and reality raise fundamental questions about consciousness that have rarely been investigated systematically.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and major depressive disorder are frequently associated with chronic low-grade inflammation and immune dysregulation. Psychedelic compounds have shown promising therapeutic effects across psychiatric disorders, although their immunomodulatory mechanisms remain insufficiently characterized.

Our clinical research group at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery ‘Manuel Velasco Suárez’ focuses on improving the quality of life for patients with epilepsy by exploring novel therapeutic approaches for Drug-Resistant Epilepsy. The main focus of our current work is the exploration of psilocybin, a substance historically ignored in epileptology and widely presumed to be proconvulsive.

Background: Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) shows promise for a range of psychopathologies, with acute subjective effects predicting long-term therapeutic outcomes. One commonly reported but under-measured phenomenon is the experience of perceiving familiar thoughts, emotions, and experiences from a novel “child-like” perspective during acute psychedelic states.