Empowerment at the Heart of Psychedelic Care. To Be or Not to Be, That Is Not the Question
Nicolas Marquis Fanny Charrasse
Digital Access to Libraries 2024 DOI: 10.4324/9781003377207-1712 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 14 |
| Population | Psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychedelic guides |
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Psyche Convention Element criminal law Mental health Empowerment Hallucinogen Parapsychology Field mathematics Psychotherapist Psychoanalysis Criminology Epistemology |
| Key findings | Argues that an essential element in the relegitimization of psychedelics is making their use compatible with contemporary ideals of autonomy in mental health care. |
Abstract
Classified by the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, coordinated by the United Nations (UN) in 1971, as dangerous substances with no real therapeutic value, psychedelics have been prohibited since that date in the United States and most European countries. However, over the last two decades there has been a resurgence of interest in them – so much so that some researchers are talking about their “revival”, particularly in disciplines that claim to work on the psyche and mind (psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychology, etc.). This “revival” seems all the more surprising given that, in this field, psychedelics tend to be regarded as hallucinogens or psychodysleptics, in other words, as substances that cause hallucinations or delirium, respectively. Based on 14 interviews with psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychedelic “guides”, this chapter asks how and under what conditions these people came to consider the use of these substances as therapeutic. In response to this question, it tests the hypothesis that an essential element in the (re)legitimization of psychedelics lies in the ability of those who are promoting them to make their use compatible with contemporary ideals of autonomy, and in particular with the way in which these ideals are expressed in the fields of mental health care.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on psilocybin, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Patients with treatment-resistant depression enrolled in an open-label trial of psilocybin | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 20 |
| Patient Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Adults aged 22 to 69 with clinically elevated anxiety associated with a cancer diagnosis | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 13 |
| Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation: Qualitative analysis of participant accounts Participants who completed a psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation pilot study | 2018 | Qualitative follow-up study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis | n = 12 |
| Response of cluster headache to psilocybin and LSD Cluster headache patients who used psilocybin or LSD | 2006 | Qualitative study | n = 53 |
| Cancer at the Dinner Table: Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Cancer-Related Distress Adult participants with clinically elevated anxiety associated with a cancer diagnosis | 2017 | Qualitative study using interpretative phenomenological analysis | n = 13 |