Adolescent depression requires a distinct approach to psychedelic-assisted therapy due to age-related differences in psychology, biology, and social dependence. Unlike adults, adolescents have less autonomy and are more influenced by their family and social environment, which creates a unique risk-benefit profile when using pro-plasticity psychedelics. The authors advocate for a systems-psychological treatment model that includes expanded screening, psychosocial formulation, family psychoeducation, and tailored integration and post-trial support. This interdisciplinary framework addresses the socio-ecological context in which adolescent psychopathology emerges, aiming to make psychedelic-assisted therapy safe, effective, and ethically sound for this population.
Aidan Lyon's work combines analytic philosophy with cognitive science to propose a new, conceptually precise and empirically plausible theory of the nature of psychedelic experiences. Lyon argues that such experiences are not merely effects of compounds called psychedelics; psychedelicity applies to a much broader range of experiences. Common to these experiences is the emergence of hidden mental contents into consciousness, as the term's parts "psyche" (mind) and "delos" (revealing) originally indicated. The work discusses evidence that meditation produces psychedelic experiences and shows psychedelia can occur when eating a madeleine cake or viewing an artwork. Philosophy itself can be psychedelic.
This essay reviews and critiques Sam Woolfe's Altered Perspectives: Critical Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness, focusing on how the book's naturalistic approach tends to 'explain away' unusual psychedelic experiences like encounters with entities. The essay argues that despite this limitation, the book is essential reading for those interested in the philosophy of altered states of consciousness.