The Role of Relational Healing in Psychedelics: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Psychedelics, acting primarily through 5-HT2A receptor binding and modulation of networks such as the default mode network (DMN), can induce shifts in self-perception, cognition, and emotion by promoting neuroplasticity and altering entrenched thought patterns. The biomedical model, emphasizing measurable neurochemical processes, often attempts to extract these neuroplastic benefits while downplaying subjective experiences. This approach may neglect essential elements of mental health, as psychological well-being is tied closely to meaning, context, relational dynamics, spiritual well-being, and community support. Medical anthropology and social constructionist theories demonstrate that focusing solely on a pharmacological viewpoint reduces psychedelic therapy to a biochemical intervention, ignoring cultural, communal, and existential dimensions of healing. As well, standard methods fail to address how risk, suffering, and spiritual experiences factor into transformative therapeutic processes. A holistic approach that acknowledges both neurobiological mechanisms and lived realities is thus critical.

"Set and Setting" underscore the significance of mindset and environment in shaping outcomes, revealing that therapeutic benefits cannot be attributed solely to neurochemistry. This recognition challenges reductionist models and encourages an integrative understanding of healing, centered on subjective experience and relational factors. "Psychedelic Sociality" emphasizes the importance of non-pharmacological variables such as community support, cultural context, and shared meaning-making, in influencing therapeutic results. Because psychedelics operate within a biopsychosocial framework, it is vital to consider co-evolutionary processes, ritual elements, and synergistic "entourages". While Indigenous traditions often view psychedelics as sacred, relational agents within community and ecology, Western approaches generally administer them strictly as pharmacological tools, overlooking broader relational, cultural, and spiritual dimensions.