Pascal Michael, PhD completed his doctorate in Psychology at the University of Greenwich on a comparative analysis of the neurophenomenology of both DMT (and analogous) experiences and the near-death experience (NDE). He is currently a lecturer there, teaching and researching on his particular interests of the phenomenology, neuroscience, therapeutic potential and existential implications of psychedelics and other ‘exceptional human experiences’. He has presented at Breaking Conventions and for the Tyringham Initiative, and published in journals such as Frontiers in Psychology. He is co-leader of the ALEF Trust’s certificate in Psychedelics, ASCs and Transpersonal Psychology, and the 2020 recipient of the Schmeidler Outstanding Student Award.
Colloquium Presentation: 12 January 2024 – 3.30-5pm (WS 025)
Pseudodelia: Revealers of Deception?
The etymology of ‘pseudo’ in “Pseudodelics” (coined by David Luke), referring to recently developed ‘non-psychedelic psychedelics’, may conjure up the concept of deception (a theme heavily present in a post-truth era). Hence these new molecules may be considered to not be revealers of the mind per se, but instead be illuminative of a neuro-fundamentalist reductionism which may often be seen to dominate the ongoing psychedelic renaissance. This may be at the expense of due recognition of the patent value of the psychedelic experience itself, at least for its own sake.
All this said, these novel compounds do represent yet another very exciting arc within this new wave of research, celebrated as promising ‘psychoplastogens’ leveraging their impressive neuroplastic properties conducive to more flexible and potentially healthier minds. This talk, however, will purvey some of their accepted evidence and applications, but will also accentuate the limitations of this constrained approach, which deleteriously omits the profundity of the (inherent) experiential, meaningful, and indeed metaphysical, dimensions to psychedelics proper.