April 13, 2022
Patric Plesa, Rotem Petranker
3 citations
preprint
A psychedelic industrial complex is forming as new research on these substances gains approval, yet much remains unknown about their potential for both benefit and harm. Despite a lack of reliable mechanistic evidence, entrepreneurs have begun marketing psychedelic advice. Drawing on critiques of the self-help industry, parallels are identified: overstated claims, cultural lore, for-profit organizations, and spiritual gurus characterize both industries that sell solutions for mental health disorders. Guidelines for responsible research, therapy, and policy are offered, focusing on evidence-based practices, decriminalization, and rigorous therapist training to temper these concerns.
Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
April 1, 2025
Tal Davidson, Patric Plesa
2 citations
Betty Eisner was a key figure in the early era of psychedelics research, but her career also serves as a cautionary example of problematic therapeutic practices, including the misuse of authority and control during the 1960s and 70s counterculture. Her work, set against the backdrop of the Human Potential Movement and integrative experiences, helps explain the decline of the first wave of psychedelic research. The dangers associated with figures like Eisner may account for the slower adoption of group therapy approaches and the limited inclusion of social context in the more cautious second wave of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
Frontiers in Psychology
August 9, 2023
Patric Plesa, Rotem Petranker
The resurgence of psychedelic research aims to treat mental health conditions through psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy, with current theories emphasizing mystical experiences as key drivers of symptom improvement. These experiences enhance feelings of salience, connectedness, and meaning. The authors argue that the excitement around psychedelics partly responds to a modern meaning and alienation crisis, which correlates with rising anxiety and depression. They frame this absence of meaning as neonihilism, a contemporary version of 19th-century nihilism shaped by neoliberal culture. Exploring whether psychedelics combined with group therapy can address modern meaninglessness, they propose concrete next steps for theory and practice, introducing neonihilistic psychedelic group psychotherapy.