Toward a Psychedelic Theodicy: Psychedelic Biomedicine and the Concept of “Risk”
January 14, 2025 DOI: 10.70423/0001.14 via OpenAlex
Summary
Biomedicine struggles to effectively address the negative experiences, or 'bad trips,' that users of psychedelics often report, particularly concerning encounters with negative entities. To improve understanding and support for these experiences, the essay suggests exploring alternative ontologies, specifically proposing a framework called psychedelic theodicy to better contextualize these phenomena.
Study at a glance
| Key finding | Biomedicine is inadequate in addressing negative psychedelic experiences, prompting the proposal of a psychedelic theodicy framework for better understanding. |
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Abstract
Biomedicine is insufficiently able to address “bad trips” and specifically negative entity encounters that psychedelic users regularly aver. To address the inadequacy of biomedicine to address this question, this essay proposes a turn toward other ontologies better equipped to understand these experiences and support patients. This paper presents a model/framework for contextualizing psychedelic experience through one such ontological turn: a psychedelic theodicy.