De-Centering the Organism: Psychedelic Therapies, Fungi and the Body without Organs
Polymatheia February 16, 2025 Ernesto Grillo Rabello, Giuliana de Paula Oliveira, Lucas Conforti Protti et al. 1 citation
The encounter of clinical psychology with psychedelic compounds, plants, and mushrooms opens new possibilities for psychotherapy. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's schizoanalysis, the concept of the Body without Organs—derived from Antonin Artaud's peyote experience—is central. This philosophical question involves an ethical, aesthetic, and political task, dissociating psychology from neuroscience tied to the organic body. By revisiting the anatomophysiological paradigm through Foucault's analyses of disciplinary power and biopower, rigid definitions of the body are questioned, broadening experience to include other narratives. Psychedelic experience involves an intensive body as force, with mushrooms acting as intermediaries that deconstruct fixed forms of subject and body, while the decentralized mycelium unfolds new possibilities. Implications for therapies require caution and awareness of risks.