Manifest Your Desires: Psychedelics and the Self-Help Industry
OpenAlex – April 13, 2022
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
A "psychedelic industrial complex" is rapidly forming, raising alarms about potential harm despite promising mental health applications. Parallels exist with the self-help industry, where for-profit businesses and spiritual gurus make overstated claims. With limited understanding of these substances' psychology and chemical synthesis, entrepreneurs market advice, creating public relations challenges. Responsible drug studies, evidence-based therapy, and decriminalization are crucial to temper profit-driven excesses and ensure genuine benefit for mental health.
Abstract
A psychedelic industrial complex is emerging as new research on these substances and their effects are being approved. These substances show promise, but much remains unknown about their potential for both benefit and harm. Despite the paucity of reliable mechanistic evidence, some entrepreneurs have already begun to market psychedelic advice. We draw on some critiques of the self-help industry to propose potential parallels in the psychedelic industry. Overstated claims, cultural lore, for-profit organizations, and spiritual gurus come with the territory of both industries aimed at selling solutions for mental health disorders. We offer some guidelines for responsible research, therapy, and policy to temper these concerns, focusing on evidence-based practices, decriminalization, and rigorous therapist training.