The Psychedelic Renaissance: Rethinking Mental Suffering and Its Treatment
What can the psychedelic renaissance teach us about mental suffering — and about what it means to heal?
Join the Lemon Tree Center for a two-day interdisciplinary webinar September 2nd and 3rd bringing together leading voices from psychiatry, philosophy, psychology and anthropology to explore how psychedelic-assisted therapy may challenge and transform our understanding of mental suffering, the self and psychological healing.
What can the psychedelic renaissance teach us about mental suffering — and about what it means to heal?
Since the 1990s, there has been a remarkable revival of interest in classic psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD and their potential role in the treatment of mental illness. Emerging research into psychedelic-assisted therapy has opened up new possibilities for the treatment of depression, anxiety and addiction — but it also raises questions that extend beyond clinical efficacy alone.
What might the psychedelic renaissance teach us about the nature of mental suffering itself?
During this two-day webinar, the Lemon Tree Center brings together perspectives from psychiatry, philosophy, clinical psychology and medical anthropology to examine the conceptual questions emerging from psychedelic research and practice.
Together, we will explore how symptoms may acquire meaning within psychedelic-assisted therapy; what these experiences might reveal about the role of the self and our relationships with others; and how psychological inflexibility and a loss of connectedness may contribute to mental suffering.
Rather than approaching psychedelics solely as a new therapeutic intervention, this webinar asks whether the psychedelic renaissance might also invite us to rethink some of the conceptual frameworks through which psychiatry and psychotherapy understand suffering, agency, selfhood and healing.
The webinar will take place online on September 2–3, 2026. All sessions are in English and all times are CEST.
Registration is free and now open: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/KX0hLswnQTu5wTOErFWRCQ#/registration
Datum & Tijd
Locatie
Lemon Tree
Schedules
2nd of September: How are psychedelics received, and what does their reception reveal about contemporary ideas of mental suffering and human flourishing?
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 15:00 | 16:00 | By Damiaan Denys Damiaan Denys opens the webinar by examining not only the contemporary reception of psychedelics, but what our responses to them reveal about prevailing ideas of mental suffering, treatment and human flourishing. |
2nd of September: Leaning In and Letting Go
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 16:15 | 17:15 | By Christopher Kochevar Christopher Kochevar explores questions surrounding agency, control and the possibility of letting go, opening a philosophical perspective on experiences that are central to psychedelic therapy. |
2nd of September: The Human Sense of Agency: Can it Really Be Transformed by Psychedelics?
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 17:30 | 18:30 | By Janis Phelps Janis Phelps examines whether psychedelic experiences can fundamentally alter a person’s sense of agency and what such changes might mean for psychological transformation and therapeutic practice. |
3rd of September: Conceptual Innovation in Psychedelic Research: Findings from a Narrative Review
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | 10:00 | By Tehseen Noorani Drawing on findings from a narrative review, Tehseen Noorani considers the new concepts and ways of thinking that are emerging alongside contemporary psychedelic research. |
3rd of September: Conceptual Innovation in Psychedelic Research: Findings from a Narrative Review
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | 10:00 | By Tehseen Noorani Drawing on findings from a narrative review, Tehseen Noorani considers the new concepts and ways of thinking that are emerging alongside contemporary psychedelic research. |
3rd of September: Mental Disorders and Healing: Lessons from Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 10:15 | 11:15 | By Elly Vintiadis Elly Vintiadis considers what psychedelic-assisted therapy might teach us about how we conceptualise mental disorders and what we mean when we speak of psychological healing. |
3rd of September: The Therapeutic Efficacy of Self-Transcendent Experiences
| Start Time (CEST) | End Time (CEST) | Agenda Point |
|---|---|---|
| 11:30 | 12:30 | By Julian Kiverstein Julian Kiverstein explores the role of self-transcendent experiences in psychedelic-assisted therapy and asks how changes in the experience of self and connectedness might contribute to therapeutic outcomes. |