Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation

Psychedelics such as psilocybin reliably produce significantly altered states of consciousness with a variety of subjectively experienced effects. These include certain changes to perception, cognition, and affect, which we refer to here as the acute subjective effects of psychedelics. In recent yea...

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Main Authors: Cheung, K, Patch, K, Earp, BD, Yaden, DB
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2023
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author Cheung, K
Patch, K
Earp, BD
Yaden, DB
author_facet Cheung, K
Patch, K
Earp, BD
Yaden, DB
author_sort Cheung, K
collection OXFORD
description Psychedelics such as psilocybin reliably produce significantly altered states of consciousness with a variety of subjectively experienced effects. These include certain changes to perception, cognition, and affect, which we refer to here as the acute subjective effects of psychedelics. In recent years, psychedelics such as psilocybin have also shown considerable promise as therapeutic agents when combined with talk therapy, for example, in the treatment of major depression or substance use disorder. However, it is currently unclear whether the aforementioned acute subjective effects are necessary to bring about the observed therapeutic effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics. This uncertainty has sparked a lively—though still largely hypothetical—debate on whether psychedelics without subjective effects (“nonsubjective psychedelics” or “non-hallucinogenic psychedelics”) could still have the same therapeutic impact, or whether the acute subjective effects are in fact necessary for this impact to be fully realized.
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spelling oxford-uuid:ac52d729-cf7a-4910-923c-6984f192b7c42024-08-05T10:53:02ZPsychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ac52d729-cf7a-4910-923c-6984f192b7c4EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2023Cheung, KPatch, KEarp, BDYaden, DBPsychedelics such as psilocybin reliably produce significantly altered states of consciousness with a variety of subjectively experienced effects. These include certain changes to perception, cognition, and affect, which we refer to here as the acute subjective effects of psychedelics. In recent years, psychedelics such as psilocybin have also shown considerable promise as therapeutic agents when combined with talk therapy, for example, in the treatment of major depression or substance use disorder. However, it is currently unclear whether the aforementioned acute subjective effects are necessary to bring about the observed therapeutic effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics. This uncertainty has sparked a lively—though still largely hypothetical—debate on whether psychedelics without subjective effects (“nonsubjective psychedelics” or “non-hallucinogenic psychedelics”) could still have the same therapeutic impact, or whether the acute subjective effects are in fact necessary for this impact to be fully realized.
spellingShingle Cheung, K
Patch, K
Earp, BD
Yaden, DB
Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation
title Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation
title_full Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation
title_fullStr Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation
title_full_unstemmed Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation
title_short Psychedelics, meaningfulness, and the “proper scope” of medicine: continuing the conversation
title_sort psychedelics meaningfulness and the proper scope of medicine continuing the conversation
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