Psychedelic psychotherapy and the cultural concept of the person

Abstract

Despite the culturally diverse history of psychedelics, dominant cultural assumptions constrain emerging psychedelic healing practices and therapeutic models in contemporary Western biomedical practice. I draw on Kirmayer’s “Psychotherapy and the Cultural Concept of the Person” (2007) to discuss how the emerging model of psychedelic psychotherapy inherits the egocentric cultural concept of self embedded in psychotherapeutic practice. I examine the ways that psychedelic healing practices integrate dominant cultural conceptions of the self in their structure by examining the examples of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and Santo Daime ayahuasca practices. I argue that in the egocentric framework of psychedelic psychotherapy, psychedelic-induced phenomenological changes in the experience of ego are interpreted in relation to dominant egocentric norms and values, which ultimately contain and limit the healing potential of psychedelic experiences. I discuss the ways that non-egocentric therapeutic practices and rituals may provide a better set and setting for processing psychedelic experiences of ego dissolution and interconnectedness, and positively integrating these experiences into one’s ordinary reality. I conclude that developing a more effective model of psychedelic therapy demands transcultural research into the role of cultural concepts of self impacts psychedelic set and setting, experiences and healing outcomes