Neitzke-Spruill, Logan2023-10-092023-10-092023https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/33435Psychedelic drugs have again become the subject of numerous scientific and scholarly investigations with much attention given to their viability as treatments for an array of mental health conditions. This dissertation explores the emergence of psychedelic science as a scientific movement and how this movement has been shaped by contemporary biomedicine. Within this framework, I critically interrogate the idea that psychedelic science constitutes a paradigm shift in mental health treatment and delve into the knowledge produced in this budding field with specific attention to explanatory mechanisms for psychedelics therapeutic effects, such as neuroplasticity. I draw on in-depth interviews with 56 psychedelic researchers from across the United States, participant observation of psychedelic conferences and virtual events, as well as popular media and the academic literature on psychedelics. I describe the formation of the movement, the qualities of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy that contribute to the premise that psychedelic science is a paradigm shift, and the diverse array of contributors to the movement. I outline the ways in which psychedelic science has been shaped by processes of biomedicalization, as well as how these processes have influenced scientific production in the field. Specifically, I focus on how biomedicine has influenced mechanistic explanations for psychedelics with a particular emphasis on their purported neuroplastic effects in the brain. I show how such neuroreductionism in psychedelic science has been identified as an issue among several researchers I spoke to and is entangled with financial commitments and incentives to garner support for research. The issues associated with the influence of biomedicine on psychedelics science have contributed to conflict within the field over theoretical issues pertaining to the therapeutic relevance of psychedelics subjective effects, as well as how the movement should progress in the face of financial interests and attempts to conform psychedelic therapies to the logic of pharmaceutical treatment. I conclude by making a theoretical case for the relevance of the subjective point of view and social-environmental phenomena in shaping psychedelics therapeutic effects. I argue that the psychedelic science movement can retain its revolutionary character by recentering the “person” when attempting administer psychedelics and evaluate therapeutic effects. This will require a recognition of the fundamental interrelationship between the social-environment, subjective experience, and the neurobiological effects of psychedelic drugs and a commitment to rigorous, ethical, and equitable research practices.BiomedicalizationNeuroplasticityPsychedelic therapiesPsychedelic scienceTherapeutic effectsThesis1414178424https://doi.org/10.58088/6yb4-rd102023-09-20en