Psychedelic Science, Contemplative Practices, and Indigenous and Other Traditional Knowledge Systems: Towards Integrative Community-Based Approaches in Global Health.
Journal of psychoactive drugs – January 01, 2023
Source: PubMed
Summary
Integrating psychedelic science, contemplative practices, and traditional knowledge systems could transform global health. Evidence shows that these approaches can induce self-transcendent experiences, leading to improved health and prosocial behaviors. For instance, community-based models incorporating these elements may enhance well-being by leveraging the rich ethnobotanical expertise of Indigenous practices. Engaging traditional healers as stakeholders in health systems can ensure that care is culturally relevant and accessible. By co-developing evidence-based integrative models, communities can effectively address physical, psychological, and social challenges.
Abstract
As individuals and communities around the world confront mounting physical, psychological, and social threats, three complimentary mind-body-spirit pathways toward health, wellbeing, and human flourishing remain underappreciated within conventional practice among the biomedical, public health, and policy communities. This paper reviews literature on psychedelic science, contemplative practices, and Indigenous and other traditional knowledge systems to make the case that combining them in integrative models of care delivered through community-based approaches backed by strong and accountable health systems could prove transformative for global health. Both contemplative practices and certain psychedelic substances reliably induce self-transcendent experiences that can generate positive effects on health, well-being, and prosocial behavior, and combining them appears to have synergistic effects. Traditional knowledge systems can be rich sources of ethnobotanical expertise and repertoires of time-tested practices. A decolonized agenda for psychedelic research and practice involves engaging with the stewards of such traditional knowledges in collaborative ways to codevelop evidence-based models of integrative care accessible to the members of these very same communities. Going forward, health systems could consider Indigenous and other traditional healers or spiritual guides as stakeholders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of community-based approaches for safely scaling up access to effective psychedelic treatments.