The metaphysics behind pharmacotherapy: treating depression with conventional and psychedelic drugs
Psicología Conocimiento y Sociedad December 4, 2018 Virginia Ballesteros 3 citations
The paper compares how conventional antidepressants and psychedelic drugs shape self-image and understandings of psychopathology. Antidepressants influenced views of depression partly because of a supportive social, political, economic, and metaphysical environment, while psychedelic drugs, despite similar success, did not have the same influence. The authors argue that antidepressants were seen as magic bullets restoring biochemical balance, whereas psychedelics are therapeutic tools requiring adequate context. Factors like psychiatry's aspirations and assumed objectivity of biological explanations contributed to a reductionist paradigm. The paper reflects on the emerging paradigm from contemporary psychedelic research.