Mental disorder and its treatment as a transformative experience
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences February 8, 2025 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-025-10059-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Transformative learning Phenomenology philosophy Psychotherapist Epistemology Developmental psychology Metaphysics |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that developing a mental disorder typically requires a transformative experience, and that successful treatment again requires a personally transformative experience, with pharmacological, psychological, and psychedelic-assisted treatments each using a different transformative route to recovery. |
Abstract
Abstract According to L.A. Paul, undergoing an experience is transformative if we learn something we cannot learn without having the experience and if it substantially changes our point of view. While the implications of transformative experiences have primarily been discussed in the context of rational choice, their underlying concept has also proven fruitful in the context of unchosen occurrences. The present paper examines mental disorder and its treatment from a transformative experiential perspective, using major depressive disorder as an exemplary case. It shows that developing a mental disorder typically requires a transformative experience since the two popular mental disorder classification systems primarily classify such disorders on an experiential basis. This provides an explanation for the lack of understanding mentally disordered people often face: their experiential state is epistemically inaccessible for those who have not experienced a similar state before. Furthermore, successful treatment of mental disorder again requires a (personally) transformative experience that results in the disorder’s overcoming. The paper examines pharmacological, psychological, and psychedelic-assisted treatment and reveals that each of them uses a different transformative route to recovery: a finding relevant, for example, to ongoing debates in medical ethics about informed consent.
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| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 22
- Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance Psychopharmacology July 7, 2006
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 19, 2017
- Transformative experience and social connectedness mediate the mood-enhancing effects of psychedelic use in naturalistic settings Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 21, 2020
- Positive expectations predict improved mental-health outcomes linked to psychedelic microdosing Scientific Reports January 21, 2021
and 17 more in the library