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Psychedelics - Medicine: Clinical Application and Evaluation

Module description

In this module you will look at contemporary practices of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) learning from experts and practitioners in the field. You will learn about the history of set and setting, about psychopharmacology and neuroplasticity, and about how this knowledge is being used to devise different protocols for PAT in the clinic. You will consider what are the causal mechanisms of PAT but also consider what are the wider implications of the medicalisation of psychedelics. You will look beyond the therapy room to consider other global models of healing.

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this module you will:

• Explore contemporary practices in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
• Investigate the clinical aspects of psychedelic therapy, including protocols, psychopharmacology, and neuroplasticity.
• Critically examine the practicalities of clinical trials and evaluate the kinds of questionnaires used to demonstrate outcomes.
• Consider the ethical considerations and potential risks associated with psychedelic-assisted therapy, and other contemporary issues resulting from medicalisation.
• Explore non-Western modalities of healing, ‘beyond the therapy room’.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge of different practices of psychedelic assisted therapy
• 2. Synthesise and integrate a range of transdisciplinary perspectives

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically evaluate evidence and practice in the field of psychedelic assisted therapy
• 4. Analysis of ethical considerations of psychedelic assisted therapy

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Critical evaluation of evidence and practice in psychedelic field
• 6. Subjective enquiry and awareness using appropriate techniques

Syllabus plan

An indicative syllabus includes:

• Set and setting
• Psychopharmacology and neuroplasticity
• Causal mechanisms
• Contemporary protocols
• The ethics of medicalisation
• Global approaches

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The module mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to re-submit any referred work for a capped mark.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• R. L. Carhart-Harris and K. J. Friston (2019) REBUS and the Anarchic Brain, Pharmacological Reviews, 71 (3) 316-344; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.118.017160
• David E. Nichols (2016) Psychedelics, Pharmacological Reviews, 68 (2) 264-355; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.115.011478
• Elk, M., Yaden, D. (2022) Pharmacological, neural, and psychological mechanisms underlying psychedelics: A critical review, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104793
• Watts, R., et al. (2022) The Watts Connectedness Scale: a new scale for measuring a sense
• of connectedness to self, others, and world, Psychopharmacology, 239:3461–3483. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-022-06187-5
• Aqil, M., Roseman, L. (2022) More than meets the eye: The role of sensory dimensions in psychedelic brain dynamics, experience, and therapeutics, Neuropharmacology, 223, 109300. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2022.109300
• Kwan, A.C., Olson, D.E., Preller, K.H. et al. The neural basis of psychedelic action. Nat Neurosci 25, 1407–1419 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01177-4.
• Ch. 7: Hauskeller, 'Individualization and Alienation in Psychedelic Psychotherapy', in: Hauskeller, C. and Sjöstedt-Hughes, P., eds. (2022) Philosophy and Psychedelics: Exploring Frameworks for Exceptional Experience (London: Bloomsbury)
• Sanabria, E. (2021) Vegetative value: promissory horizons of therapeutic innovation in the global circulation of ayahuasca, BioSocieties, 16, pp. 387–410
• Erlam, N. (2019) Cognitive Dispossession: Ecofeminism, Entheogens, and Neuroqueering Drug Policy, in:  Papaspyrou et al., eds., Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine (Rochester: Park Street Press)
• Celidwen, Y, et al. (2023). Ethical principles of traditional Indigenous medicine to guide western psychedelic research and practice. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas 18: 100410.
• Mitchell, J. M. (2024). Psychedelic therapies reconsidered: compounds, clinical indications, and cautious optimism. Neuropsychopharmacology, 49(1), 96–103. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01656-7
• Friston, K. (2012). Ten ironic rules for non-statistical reviewers. NeuroImage Elsevier, 61(4), 1300–1310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.04.018
• MacIntyre, A. C. (1998). A short history of ethics : a history of moral philosophy from the Homeric Age to the twentieth century (2nd ed.). University of Notre Dame Press.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE

Key words search

Psychedelic assisted therapy, pharmacology, neuroplasticity, causal mechanisms, medicalisation, therapy, clinical protocols