Book on Bastiaans’s LSD treatment by Leo van Bergen

“Bevrijd”, Leo van Bergen’s book about the concentration camp syndrome and the LSD treatment of psychiatrist Jan Bastiaans, has just come out. Bastiaans was well known in the post-war Netherlands for the LSD treatments he developed for war victims. When in the 1960s it became clear that these survivors suffered from psychological distress, he started treating patients with psychoanalysis while they were under the influence of LSD, a substance that had become illegal outside of the medical field in 1966. His patients were grateful for his treatment – they said they felt liberated (‘bevrijd’) by it. But among Bastiaans’ fellow psychiatrists the method was controversial.

Leo van Bergen was interviewed about his book on Dutch radio. Listen to Met het oog op morgen of January 26 and to OVT of January 30.

Leo van Bergen, Bevrijd. Het concentratiekampsyndroom en de LSD-behandeling van Jan Bastiaans
Uitgeverij Quo Vadis, € 32.50.