Ethical Issues Regarding Nonsubjective Psychedelics as Standard of Care
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics – October 01, 2022
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
A compelling finding in Psychology reveals psychedelics' therapeutic benefits largely stem from their profound subjective experiences. Although Chemical synthesis is creating "nonsubjective" compounds for individuals with specific mental illnesses, a critical ethical argument emerges for psychotherapists. These altered substances should be reserved for cases where subjective effects are truly contraindicated. For most patients, classic psychedelics, offering positive and meaningful experiences, should remain the default. Withholding these beneficial subjective journeys from the majority raises significant ethical questions relevant to Social psychology and Psychedelics and Drug Studies.
Abstract
Abstract Evidence suggests that psychedelics bring about their therapeutic outcomes in part through the subjective or qualitative effects they engender and how the individual interprets the resulting experiences. However, psychedelics are contraindicated for individuals who have been diagnosed with certain mental illnesses, on the grounds that these subjective effects may be disturbing or otherwise counter-therapeutic. Substantial resources are therefore currently being devoted to creating psychedelic substances that produce many of the same biological changes as psychedelics, but without their characteristic subjective effects. In this article, we consider ethical issues arising from the prospect of such potential “nonsubjective” psychedelics. We are broadly supportive of efforts to produce such substances for both scientific and clinical reasons. However, we argue that such nonsubjective psychedelics should be reserved for those special cases in which the subjective effects of psychedelics are specifically contraindicated, whereas classic psychedelics that affect subjective experience should be considered the default and standard of care. After reviewing evidence regarding the subjective effects of psychedelics, we raise a number of ethical concerns around the prospect of withholding such typically positive, meaningful, and therapeutic experiences from most patients.