When art therapy went chemical: Alfred Bader, pharmacology, and art brut, c.1950-1970s

Abstract This article analyzes how psychopharmacology transformed the relationship between art and psychiatry. It outlines a novel genealogy of art therapy, repositioning its origins in the context of evolving clinical practices and discourses on mind-altering drugs. Evaluating the use of psychotropic drugs in connection with psychopathology of art in the first half of the twentieth century, the article then focuses on two post-Second World War experiments involving psilocybin conducted by psychiatrist Alfred Bader and pharmacologist Roland Fischer. Illustrating how consciousness was foregrounded in discussions about mental health and illness, the examples showcase how psychotherapists increasingly sought to articulate art brut and modernist aesthetics in a neurobiological fashion to define madness as a social disease.

摘要：本研究剖析了精神药理学（psychopharmacology）如何重塑艺术与精神病学之间的关系。本文梳理出艺术治疗（art therapy）的全新学术谱系，将其起源重新锚定在不断演进的临床实践与精神活性药物相关论述的语境之中。本文首先评估了20世纪上半叶精神药物（psychotropic drugs）与艺术精神病理学结合的应用场景，随后聚焦于二战后由精神病学家阿尔弗雷德·巴德（Alfred Bader）与药理学家罗兰·费舍尔（Roland Fischer）开展的两项涉及裸盖菇素（psilocybin）的实验研究。上述案例不仅阐明了意识如何在心理健康与疾病的讨论中被置于核心议题位置，更展现了心理治疗师愈发倾向于以神经生物学视角阐释原生艺术（art brut）与现代主义美学，进而将癫狂界定为一种社会性疾病。