Translated from our German original by AI. The German text was researched, written, and edited by the Psychedelia Foundation team and remains the authoritative version.
“Peaking: Psychedelics and the Pursuit of Happiness” is a new documentary that engages closely with the medical and social significance of psychedelic substances. Its focus is not only on scientific explanation but also on authentic views of therapeutic use and personal accounts.
The film provides rare access from inside the treatment rooms and documents the dynamics, the emotions, and the speed of psychedelic healing processes in practice. In doing so, the documentary follows a range of people on their paths:
- Professional athletes: who turn to psychedelic-assisted therapies after concussions in order to recover from brain injury.
- War veterans: who experience profound relief from trauma-related suicidal thoughts through the treatments.
- People affected by addiction: people who manage, with the help of psychedelics, to free themselves from severe opioid dependence.
- Survivors of the Nova Music Festival: eyewitnesses to the terrorist attack in Israel report that taking psychedelic substances during the attack shielded them, like a protective screen, from developing severe psychological trauma.
The documentary also traces the turbulent history of the criminalization of psychedelic substances since the 1960s and examines their growing acceptance on the way from the underground into the social and scientific mainstream. In the filmmakers’ view, this development could soon pave the way for formal legalization, first in the United States and potentially beyond.
“Peaking: Psychedelics and the Pursuit of Happiness” sees itself as a comprehensive and unbiased look at all the major psychedelics and their therapeutic potential. Through the use of rare footage from real treatment settings, the immediate effect of these new forms of therapy is made tangible for the audience.
