Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
2 citations
Three theories of psychedelic therapy are critically examined. The Molecular Neuroplasticity Theory, which attributes benefits to a drug-driven molecular process independent of conscious experience, is weakened by evidence that mystical-type experiences correlate with positive outcomes, indicating psychological mechanisms are involved. The Metaphysical Belief Theory and Metaphysical Alief Theory better account for this correlation by positing that a transcendent 'Joyous Cosmology' encountered during the experience drives change. However, these theories fail to explain why patients can meet psychometric criteria for a mystical-type experience without having a non-naturalistic metaphysical hallucination; more naturalistic experiences of ego dissolution and connectedness can also satisfy those criteria. The argument concludes that lasting benefits arise from a genuine psychological factor that correlates with mystical-type experience but is independent of non-naturalistic metaphysical ideations.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
1 citation
A single or a few controlled psychedelic experiences can durably reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and addiction, and produce lasting psychological benefits in healthy people. These effects appear to be mediated by 'mystical-type' experiences, which raises the Comforting Delusion Objection: if the benefits stem from an illusory experience, is the therapy epistemically problematic? Existing responses reject philosophical naturalism or downplay epistemic factors in psychiatric treatment, but both approaches face problems. The chapter outlines a new response showing the Objection fails even if naturalism is true and epistemic status matters.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
1 citation
Psychedelic research supports the view that transformative experiences and practices can legitimately be called 'spiritual' while remaining compatible with a naturalistic worldview. The existential transformation from some psychedelic experiences—temporarily suspending the default, self-referential mode of cognition and enabling feelings of connectedness, wonder, and awe—provides a paradigm for naturalistic spirituality. This evidence reinforces core ideas from recent philosophical work, such as spirituality being about connection, aspiration, and asking the Big Questions, and that these experiences overcome limitations of the ordinary sense of self. The chapter argues that such experiences and practices are independent of non-naturalistic metaphysical beliefs.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
1 citation
Psychedelic therapy in controlled settings, such as clinical trials and religious rituals, commonly produces changes in perception and sense of self. Patients sometimes report non-naturalistic metaphysical epiphanies about cosmic consciousness or a divine Reality, but more frequently emphasize psychological insight, beneficial changes to self-representation, intense and cathartic emotional experiences, and feelings of connectedness and acceptance. This qualitative evidence suggests that therapeutic effects may not be due entirely to inducing metaphysical ideations.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
Psychedelic therapy works primarily by disrupting and revising mental representations of the self. Three lines of evidence support this hypothesis: psychological insight during therapy, which is often autobiographical, correlates with positive outcomes; psychedelics enhance mindfulness capacities for an open, non-reactive attentional stance toward inner experience, which involves changes in the sense of self; and positive clinical outcomes are linked to changes in the Default Mode and Salience networks, both implicated in self-representation. These findings can be integrated into a cohesive account by considering the cognitive functions of the neural systems affected by psychedelics.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
Psychedelics may help treat mental disorders by disrupting large-scale neural networks stuck in dysfunctional configurations, allowing them to reset into healthier states. This chapter argues that this neural resetting hypothesis is correct but incomplete; it must be supplemented by an account of the cognitive functions of those networks. The predictive processing theory of cognition, which describes the brain as minimizing prediction errors, provides this account. One theory holds that psychedelics target networks encoding high-level beliefs, and disrupting these beliefs enables revision. The chapter proposes that the beliefs most often revised in successful psychedelic therapy are self-related beliefs.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
Psychedelic therapy works by 'unbinding' the self-model, according to the predictive self-binding account. In pathological conditions, rigid self-models become entrenched. Psychedelics induce neural and psychological plasticity, allowing experiences of ego dissolution and insight that enable revision of these maladaptive self-models. The therapy has a two-factor structure: induction of plasticity followed by discovery and consolidation of new self-modelling. This account subsumes mechanisms like feelings of connectedness, acceptance, psychological insight, emotional breakthrough, and mindfulness. The chapter also touches on philosophical questions about self and self-consciousness.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
Controlled psychedelic administration can yield epistemic benefits within a naturalistic framework. Insights into one's previously unknown mental states are probably often accurate but require sober scrutiny. Psychedelics offer knowledge by acquaintance with the mind's potential for diverse modes of attention and cognition, which can later be re-evoked, providing ability knowledge. They also facilitate new knowledge of old facts by making existing beliefs more vivid and motivating. Indirect epistemic benefits arise from psychological benefits, making therapeutic psychedelic experiences, in Lisa Bortolotti's terms, epistemically innocent.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
A book's concluding chapter recaps its main arguments and proposes future research directions. It provides a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book's arguments and lists testable predictions derived from them. It suggests further research in philosophy of science, philosophy of psychiatry, ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of transformative experience. The chapter reflects on two central theses: that the Comforting Delusion Objection to psychedelic therapy fails, and that an 'Entheogenic Conception' of psychedelics as agents of epistemic benefit and spiritual experience is both consistent with naturalism and plausible given current evidence.