Abstract

Beneficial effects of serotonergic psychoactive substances as adjuncts for psychotherapy of several stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, have been reported.
Within the main bio-medical perspective in psychiatry these outcomes cannot be fully explained.
The subjective experience itself – often described as transformational processes – has become an increasing focus of interest in the investigation of therapeutic outcomes. Similarly, the context-sensitivity of psychedelic experiences has been widely discussed under the terms setting and setting.
Whereas pharmacological effects can be explained within a bio-medical perspective, it has become clear, that psychotherapy research must be understood within a contextual metamodel, considering complex contextual variables such as patient-therapist relationship, socio-cultural surroundings etc.
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy itself integrates pharmacological and psychotherapeutic effects. Therefore, a paradigm evolution that integrates these perspectives is necessary in the field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy research.