…for a bioethics of psychedelic…
…pre-existing bioethical accounts of mental health treatments are challenged… have [the] ethical house in order before there is widespread uptake… The superficial challenge is that the very nature of the mystical experience induced by psychedelics runs contrary to the mainstream understanding of informed consent. A core characteristic of mystical experiences is that they are ineffable — inexpressible or incomprehensible in linguistic terms. Insofar as patient briefing takes place linguistically, securing informed consent will not be straightforward.
…psychedelic experiences can increase prosocial disposition, affect attitudes towards death, enhance aesthetic appreciation and improve patients’ sense of personal well-being and life satisfaction. Perhaps most interestingly, they can induce mystical experiences of long-lasting spiritual significance, and produce robust changes to religious belief and personality. Such experiences appear to be a feature, rather than a bug, of psychedelic psychotherapy, with the intensity of the mystical experience correlating with the extent of clinical benefit. Of potentially wider significance, they might cause long-term changes to political values and, perhaps, behaviours…
Original Article (Medium):
On the need for a bioethics of psychedelic psychotherapy: a few preliminary challenges
Artwork Fair Use: Doc. RNDr. Josef Reischig, CSc.
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