The psychedelic experience: a new perspective, a new attitude towards the world
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry September 13, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898371.003.0009
Summary
The psychedelic experience may hold potential for treating depression by providing a perspective shift that contrasts sharply with the depressive state. While depression is described as a world lacking beauty and meaning, psychedelics can immerse individuals in a meaningful and beautiful reality. This shift can lead to new possibilities for action and a reevaluation of personal relationships and self-perception.
Study at a glance
| Key finding | Psychedelics can offer a transformative experience that contrasts with the beauty-devoid world of depression. |
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Abstract
Abstract This chapter provides a philosophical account of the potential of the psychedelic experience to treat depression. The main thesis is that such a potential lies in the possibility of psychedelics allowing us to experience a world diametrically opposed to that of depression: the psychedelic experience can be world-shifting. Building on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s insights and notions of aesthetics, ethics, and mysticism, the world in depression is characterized as a world devoid of beauty and meaning, from which we feel disconnected. On the contrary, the psychedelic experience immerses us in a world full of beauty and meaning, to which we feel connected. It is by changing our perspective that our whole world and attitude towards it changes, opening up new possibilities for action, as well as a new evaluation of the contingencies of our biographical self and our relationships with others.