Therapeutic benefit versus epistemic risk: Need for empirical research in psychedelic epistemology.
Journal of psychiatric research – August 01, 2025
Source: PubMed
Summary
Psychedelic therapy shows promise for mental health treatment, but it may significantly alter how people form and validate their beliefs. While these substances are generally safe physically and psychologically, they can lead users to embrace supernatural or paranormal beliefs. The key finding suggests that psychedelics might change not just what people believe, but the fundamental ways they evaluate truth and knowledge - their "epistemic criteria." This insight raises important ethical considerations for therapeutic use.
Abstract
This paper highlights the ethical and epistemic challenges posed by psychedelic therapy and vindicates the importance of epistemology in the clinical and psychotherapeutic setting. Despite their relative physiological and psychological safety, these substances can induce changes in the beliefs of those who use them, such as paranormal beliefs. To explain the changes in beliefs, we introduced the concept of epistemic criteria (i.e., the principles individuals use to validate and justify their beliefs) and hypothesized that psychedelics may alter beliefs by modifying epistemic criteria. Further research should be conducted to determine this potential and under-researched risk of psychedelic therapy.