Speaker Bio
Dr Metastasio graduated Magna cum Laude in Medicine at the University of Perugia in Italy. He subsequently trained in Psychiatry in Cambridge. After his graduation Dr Metastasio completed a Master degree in Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. Most recently Dr Metastasio graduated in MSt in Genomic Medicine at the University of Cambridge.
Dr Metastasio has a significant clinical experience in the field of psychiatry and of addictions. He has worked both in the UK and in Italy. He has also has an a significant experience in the clinical use of rapid acting antidepressants.
Dr Metastasio has extensively published in the field of depression, psychosis, alcohol and substance misuse, genomic medicine and rapid acting antidepressants. Recently he has been applying phenomenology to the study of psychedelics for clinical and creative purposes.
Dr Metastasio is currently using phenomenoology to describe the psychedelic experience in order to better understand its effect. His research is aimed in improving the effectiveness of psychedelics in clinical settings but also as creativity enhancers.
ICPR 2024 Abstract
Psychedelic Dolce Vita. How LSD inpacted on Fellini's creativity. A phenomenological study
Since its discovery in 1943, LSD has been used by artists, scientists, and intellectuals, amongst others, to stimulate their creative insights. Federico Fellini, one of the most important film directors in the XX century, used LSD when it was still legal under the guidance of his psychoanalyst during a phase of personal and creative crisis. This article proposes a phenomenological analysis of how his filmmaking and his creativity was enhanced after using LSD in such controlled therapeutic settings, according to four main domains: (a) time, (b) space, (c) body and others and (d) perception of the self. In particular, time flows irregularly and is punctuated by disorienting flashbacks, colours become supernaturally brilliant and detached from objects, sounds pop up independently from any visible source, and human bodies become often deformed, grotesque and caricatural. The boundaries between dream- and reality-worlds also collapses. His films became so distinctive and original that an adjective was coined felliniesque.