(From left) Donna Chen, J. Kim Penberthy, Adelaide Wilcox King, Jahred Rosa-Sullivan, Melissa Frost, and Patrick Finan
The International Society of Contemplative Research is a global, interdisciplinary community that gathered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in early November, for a conference to advance rigorous scientific study of contemplative practices, including meditation, mindfulness, and related mind-body approaches. At this year’s meeting, the University of Virginia Psychedelic Interdisciplinary Research Consortium (PIRC) hosted a roundtable that brought together experts in ethics, medicine, business, cultural studies, contemplative science, and psychology to examine the transformative potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental health and existential distress. UVA Professor of Research in Psychiatric Medicine J. Kim Penberthy, PhD, moderated a session highlighting PIRC’s first study—an innovative investigation of mystical-type experiences in individuals with prolonged grief disorder following psilocybin administration. The session covered how altered states of consciousness, when approached with clinical integrity, cultural humility, and contemplative awareness, may foster meaning-making, emotional healing, and spiritual transformation in grief.
Additional UVA panelists included Donna Chen, MD, MPH, (ethics); Melissa Frost, PhD (cultural issues); Adelaide Wilcox King, PhD (business and strategy); Patrick Finan, PhD (anesthesiology); and Jahred Rosa-Sullivan (contemplative science). They offered interdisciplinary perspectives on the ethical, cultural, organizational, and clinical challenges and opportunities at the intersection of contemplative science and psychedelic research, inviting active dialogue with attendees.
Filed Under: Research