What are psychedelic drugs? Are they simply drugs of abuse? Can they be used to treat patients with unremitting mental health problems? Can they assist us in our study of human consciousness and the physiology of the brain? Or could they be considered sacramental tools used by non-Western cultures for spiritual value?
Psychedelics have a controversial history and the subject has always been divisive. However, the subject is increasingly being explored, and more and more of today’s psychiatrists are embracing their therapeutic potential (Page et al, 2021).
There is a growing commercialisation of psychedelics underway with research moving out of universities and academia into hundreds of new private start-up companies and organisations. Alongside this expansion of psychedelic research and movement towards clinical services with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies, there has been a huge growth in psychedelics culturally. There are now hundreds of psychedelic societies, clubs, gatherings and festivals throughout the world, as well as wellness centres offering different forms of psychedelic experiences. Psychedelic microdosing is also experiencing an increase in interest. These developments highlight a great disparity in international drug laws. Contemporary research has also seen psychedelics explored as potential tools to treat neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
This module will look objectively and scientifically at the relative risks and benefits of psychedelic drugs in order to:
- explore their complex psychopharmacology
- provide a brief review of the history of psychedelic drug therapy in psychiatry and a discussion about its possible future
- appreciate the role psychedelics have played in cultural development.
- We will look at the development of these drugs within the profession of psychiatry, including:
- their meteoric rise in the 1950s
- their fall in the 1960s
- the hiatus of the last 40 years
- the re-emergence of interest in psychedelics in recent years.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of this module, you should understand:
- the mode of action and therapeutic effects of some of the psychedelic drugs
- the history of psychedelics in psychiatry and culture
- the religious use of psychedelics by non-Western cultures
- the current research developments for psychedelic drug-assisted psychotherapy
- what to do in a ‘psychedelic emergency’
- the risks and relative safety of psychedelic drugs.
Availability
This module is available as part of a CPD eLearning subscription.
