How are psychotic experiences acquiring new therapeutic value, and what are the implications for psychosis care?

Experimental psychedelic-assisted therapy mobilizes psychotic experiences as therapeutic in clinical trials. At the same time, psychosis is a highly stigmatised condition that disproportionately impacts racialised and disadvantaged communities. Conventional psychosis treatments—antipsychotic drugs—are increasingly recognised as insufficient, and cutting-edge psychosis clinics are foregrounding new approaches to managing psychotic illnesses.

My new research project, Madness in Medicine will bridge divided research on psychedelics and psychosis to investigate psychotic experiences across these disparate clinical contexts and discover how innovative treatment approaches that mobilize or manage psychotic experiences are transforming mental health care. Through clinical ethnography, auto-ethnography, and patient and public involvement (PPI) through participatory arts-based research and collaborative codesign with patients and clinicians, this research will provide new and bold insight into how therapeutic value, safety, and efficacy are changing in the context of the burgeoning ‘psychedelic renaissance’ and the ongoing global mental health crisis.