We know psychedelics are being increasingly used to treat mental health conditions. But not enough is made of their positive benefits for healthy people. Sam Woolfe here argues that psychedelics are catalysts for existential joy i.e., the joy of simply being alive. In many discussions surrounding psychedelics, there can be a tendency to focus on how these compounds alleviate various ills, instead of what they can positively add to people’s lives. This speaks to a more general theme in the psychological field, where there is a preference for trying to resolve the negative and maladaptive aspects of human experience while ignoring or undervaluing the promotion of positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. The latter is seen as secondary. This is why the approach of positive psychology originally emerged — it aimed to complement (not replace) psychology’s negative bias.Helping individuals to function well and overcome emotional sufferin…
Read the full article which is published on IAI TV (external link)
