José Carlos Bouso

Career and research

Clinical trials

Bouso was involved as early as the year 2000 as scientific director of one of the first clinical trials involving MDMA for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Bouso criticized ret tape in his early work on MDMA‑assisted psychotherapy, noting that the halting of his clinical investigations into MDMA for PTSD in the early 2000s delayed the field's development in Spain.

Between 2020 and 2025, he was principal investigator, working with Tre Borràs Cabacés, in coordinating the Phase-II clinical trial on the use of ibogaine to "reverse methadone tolerance" held in a hospital in Reus, Catalonia.

Research

The relation between psychological and mental health, psycho-social wellbeing, lifestyle, and the social and ritualized ceremonies associated with the use of potent psychedelic medicines, and their interactions with the final effect, has long been a topic of interest of Bouso's research. This led him to engage with the interactions between Western medicine and traditional epistemologies and systems of alternative therapy, in particular maintained by indigenous peoples.

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Bouso focused on the effects of the use of psychedelics (concurrent, prior or posterior) in mitigating mental health risks associated with the pandemic's social and psychological effects. His interventions often seek to balance the perceived benefits of treatments such as ayahuasca therapy, with the need for set and setting and attention given to the context, environment, and practices. Bouso has claimed that the findings from his work helps "emphasize the importance of a responsible and well-prepared setting for those seeking healing through ayahuasca."

Advocacy and public involvement

In the 2010s, Bouso has been involved with medical cannabis research and public advocacy as well as with the World Ayahuasca Conference. Bouso has been involved in public discussions related to his fields of research, e.g. delivering talks like "Ayahuasca from the point of view of psychology: from phenomenology to therapeutic effects." [La ayahuasca vista desde la psicología: de la fenomenología a los effectos terapéuticos.] in Barcelona.

In recent years, the publication of his book Medicina psiquedélica: Manual para pacientes, clínicos, usuarios y curiosos [Psychedelic medicine: Manual for patients, clinicians, users and curious people]. Madrid: Kairos. 2025. brought him to the arena of public debate on psychedelics, in Spain and Latin America, getting to be dubbed "the wiseman of psychedelic therapy" by Spanish national television.

Following the approval of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a number of countries, Bouso has focused on the potential of MDMA therapies in Spain.