Psychedelic‐Induced Experiences

Abstract

This chapter considers how psychedelic substances affect consciousness, using the lens of a transpersonal approach to psychology. Transpersonal psychology's point of view is especially suitable to grapple with this question due not only to its continuing interest in altered states of consciousness, but also to its long-standing relationship with psychedelic research. Mainstream psychology has historically distanced itself from this area of study, perhaps in part because so many reports of psychedelic-induced effects include data historically shunned, denied, or pathologized by science in general. These effects include out-of-body experiences, spiritual or transcendent states of consciousness, disidentification with one's personality, and seemingly spontaneous healing. The chapter focuses on the research about lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Associating neuroplasticity with psychedelics is a new theoretical turn, and the conceptualization presented in the chapter appears to be novel.