This last October 2025, Clinica Synaptica organized its first ever level 2 training, as a retreat in Can Benet. We have been immensely blessed by the active participation and collaboration of the Ketamine Research Foundation and its founder, Phil Wolfson. Phil, born in 1943, is the grandfather of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, having worked with this substance for longer than many others. He is a psychiatrist and author of multiple books and many academic studies, and has been an active participant in the therapeutic use of psychedelics since the 1960s.
Dr. Joan Obiols, a pioneering psychedelic psychiatrist in Spain, leads us through this interview with Phil. In the first part of this interview with Phil Wolfson, he talks about what brought him to psychotherapy and psychedelics, through a talk that delves into childhood, politics and religion. Social activism made him into a citizen of the world, while psychedelics expanded his worldview. Even while studying premed in the USA, Phil already knew he wanted to be a psychotherapist as well, and marks three major factors into shaping his views and life path: his introduction to psychedelics, with his first LSD experience in 1964; cannabis (which he also considers a psychedelic) and what this transformational substance opened up for him; and his journey into fatherhood and the loss of his son, Noe.
Join us in this interview that travels through history with names like Martin Luther King, Leo Zeff, Sasha Shulgin, Stan Groff and Rick Doblin, and which explores the past, the present and the future of psychedelics through this gigantic but humble figure of Phil Wolfson. In the second part of this interview with Phil Wolfson, we will talk about the many things he has learned through psychedelics and the use of therapeutic ketamine. We also delve into the dark side of psychedelics and everything they can’t give us. Wolfson remarks on the importance of guides throughout these processes, and how Tibetan Buddhism helped to provide a framework through which to comprehend and develop this work. Lastly, we have small addendum which reflects on the future challenges and perils of integrating psychedelics into the framework of a modern and capitalistic world.
Here are the links once again to listen to this interview. Hope you enjoy the wise words shared here:
