ENCORE: 93-year-old former psychiatric patient and nurse shares lessons from LSD
Kay Parley, a former patient of the then-Weyburn Mental Hospital in Weyburn, Sask., remembers her time there as the best thing that ever happened to her.
"To this day I feel that was home. I liked it in the big hospital, once you got used to the place - all those people around that you knew," she tells The Current's host Anna Maria Tremonti.
"The old psychiatric model pushed patients to do things. The medical model says, we'll cure you, we'll look after you. And I think that was a bad change," Parley said.
The institution is known for its cutting edge research on the therapeutic use of LSD.
For Parley, she saw how LSD helped staff connect with patients. "I noticed when I worked with nurses who had had LSD - they always seemed to understand their patients better."
Parley took LSD, with Francis Huxley, nephew of Aldous Huxley and tells Anna Maria Tremonti about that encounter. "He asked me if I'd like a cup of tea and I said, ok thanks. He said, would you rather have LSD. That was a bit of a surprise," she said.
"LSD upset your perception so badly — what it was like when you weren't hearing and seeing things realistically. And I think the staff who tried it got a lot more empathy for patients."
Parley is 93-years-old now and her story from both sides of the gurney is in her book, Inside The Mental: Silence, Stigma, Psychiatry and LSD.
This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley.