The medical sociological and social epidemiological psychedelics paradigm (MSSEPP)
Drug Science Policy and Law November 1, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1177/20503245251401023 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
A theoretical framework, the medical sociological and social epidemiological psychedelics paradigm (MSSEPP), is introduced to address ethical concerns, lack of participant diversity, and structural limitations in psychedelic research. It critiques the dominant biopsychic model and emphasizes that social, cultural, structural, and economic conditions simultaneously shape how psychosocial resources affect health outcomes from psychedelic use. MSSEPP incorporates indirect and interacting effects across the life-course and calls for integrating structural determinants, intersectional stigma, and community-based frameworks into future research, clinical design, and policy.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The MSSEPP framework provides a more holistic and ethically grounded orientation for psychedelic science by emphasizing the interconnected social, cultural, structural, and economic conditions that shape health outcomes related to psychedelic use. |
Abstract
Although psychedelics have shown therapeutic potential in treating conditions such as depression, PTSD, and addiction, concerns remain regarding ethical practices, participant diversity, and the structural limitations of prevailing theoretical frameworks. This theoretical framework critically examines the dominant biopsychic model that underpins much of contemporary psychedelic research and introduces the medical sociological and social epidemiological psychedelics paradigm (MSSEPP) as a conceptual advancement. Rooted in medical sociology and social epidemiology and building on classic critiques of medicalization and biopolitics, MSSEPP emphasizes and appreciates the interconnected and simultaneous operation of social, cultural, structural, and economic conditions in shaping the relationship between psychosocial resources and health outcomes related to psychedelic use. By incorporating multidirectional processes—including indirect (mediating) and interacting (moderating) effects—MSSEPP accounts for complexities across the life-course that are often neglected in existing models. This article outlines a forward-looking agenda to integrate structural determinants, intersectional stigma, and community-based frameworks into psychedelic science. In doing so, MSSEPP provides a more holistic and ethically grounded orientation to guide future research, clinical design, and policy development.