Psychedelics in Practice: Spirituality, Community, and Integration

Recently we have seen a dramatic increase in biomedical research involving psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, and ibogaine. These substances have widespread mental health benefits while often bringing about intense spiritual or “mystical-like” experiences. The intensity of the spiritual experience correlates positively with the healing effects. Scientific evidence opens the pathway to medicalized treatments, while local efforts at decriminalization (in Denver, for example) mean that people now feel safe using these substances for mental and spiritual purposes, trends that raise increasingly urgent questions for religious scholars. This panel looks at efforts to provide spiritual support when psychedelics prompt questions with religious significance, especially in situations of spiritual distress or profound but tentative changes in worldview.  Contact: coleturn@pts.edu