Abstract

Abstract

There is now a flurry of research on drug-assisted psychotherapy—focused on MDMA and psilocybin (from magic mushrooms)—for serious mental conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current model treats these drugs as “medicine” and thus conceptually tied to the treating of diseases/disorders. But psychedelic drugs have also been used for “enhancement” purposes, and not only for individual-level concerns but also in relational and community-oriented contexts. What are the ethics of using MDMA or psilocybin for relationship enhancement in “healthy” couples?

Bio

Brian is co-author of the book Love Drugs: The Chemical Future of Relationships (Stanford University Press, 2020; published in the UK by Manchester University Press as Love Is the Drug: The Chemical Future of Our Relationships). The book calls for a “relational turn” in research on the therapeutic effects of MDMA and psychedelic drugs including psilocybin, asking how drug-assisted psychotherapy could benefit couples. Brian is Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and a Research Fellow in the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. His work is cross-disciplinary, following training in philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, history and sociology of science and medicine, and ethics. Brian is co-recipient of the 2018 Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He is also recipient of both the Robert G. Crowder Prize in Psychology and the Ledyard Cogswell Award for Citizenship from Yale University, where he was elected President of the Yale Philosophy Society as an undergraduate as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Philosophy Review. He then conducted graduate research in psychological methods as a Henry Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford. He also conducted graduate research in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science, technology, and medicine as a Cambridge Trust Scholar and Rausing Award recipient at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. After spending a year in residence as the inaugural Presidential Scholar in Bioethics at The Hastings Center in Garrison, New York, Brian is now a Benjamin Franklin Resident Graduate Fellow at Yale University, where he is finishing his Ph.D. in philosophy and psychology, having been jointly admitted to both departments. His essays have been translated into Polish, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Hebrew.