Mystical experiences and mental disorders: what psychedelic research on depression and anxiety can tell us about the nature of mental illness

Abstract

This paper examines the implications of the recent research on psychedelic substances and their effects on mental health. Specifically, the paper analyzes the findings concerning the correlation between a particular state of consciousness reliably induced by ingestion of psychedelics – the so-called “mystical experience” – and long-term improvements in mental health. The central thesis pursued is that the “self-model” of mental suffering – the view that mental illness should be understood primarily as part of that flow of subjective experience that human consciousness and selfhood are grounded in – best accommodates the evidence from psychedelic research, which indicates that the therapeutic effects of psychedelics are achieved through a profound alteration in the conscious self.