Over the last year, I have had the pleasure of being introduced to PhD student Mendel Kaelen, and the impressive work of Imperial College London in the groundbreaking study of the brain under the influence of psychedelic drugs. Specifically, I have been involved in the early stages of research into using LSD as a safe and effective way to treat serious cases of depression. Music has played a vital role in these trials and I am proud to say that my work has been used profusely with great success in helping to create the appropriate environment for treatment. The results so far have been very impressive, and we are hoping the project will evolve into a much more nuanced collaboration between scientists, patients and composers like myself. I can’t reveal much more at the moment, but you can begin to piece things together for yourself by reading some of the reports that appeared numerously in the scientific and international popular press. Here are just some of them:
MOTHERBOARD – How to pick music for people on LSD from a scientist whose job that is.
THE GUARDIAN – Psychedelic drugs like LSD could be used to treat depression.
CNN – This is your brain on LSD, literally.
SCIENCE DAILY – Brain on LSD revealed: first scans show how the drug affects the brain.
Greg Haines 