Psychedelics in Religion, Science, and Healing

Catalog description

Psychedelics are in the midst of a renaissance of public attention. Though used for millennia in indigenous ceremonies and religious rites, it is only in the last century that they have played a role in Western science, medicine, and culture. Literally “manifesting the soul,” psychedelics have been both stigmatized and hyped, remaining illegal or controversial in many contemporary contexts even as they are marketed as the “next big thing” in mental health care. This course compares and contrasts the cultural and ontological contexts for psychedelic use from indigenous and religious ceremonies to contemporary scientific clinical trials and neuroscience. Along the way, pressing questions within the psychedelic field will be investigated from an interdisciplinary lens and with an appreciation for history and context.