Patric Plesa- Doctor of Philosophy
- Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University
Patric Plesa
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University
Working on psychedelic humanities and critical psychology
About
9
Publications
1,819
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67
Citations
Introduction
My research tackles critical issues in psychology from theoretical perspectives toward improving understanding, innovating interventions, and reassessing practices that affect mental health, wellbeing, and the environment. I am working on psychedelics research, existentialism, ecopsychology, and critical psychology. Specifically, I am interested in questions around systemic issues, meaninglessness, and subjectivity. I am also a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying).
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Additional affiliations
September 2023 - present
Toronto Metropolitan University
Position
- Assitant Professor
August 2022 - August 2023
September 2023 - December 2023
Education
September 2014 - October 2020
Publications
Publications (9)
A psychedelic industrial complex is emerging as new research on these substances and their effects is being approved. These substances show promise, but much remains unknown about their potential for both benefit and harm. Despite the paucity of reliable mechanistic evidence, some entrepreneurs have already begun to market psychedelic advice. We dr...
In this article, I reassess two central existential constructs at their intersection with neoliberalism and the self-help industry. Freedom and authenticity, as theorized primarily in the Sartrean tradition, have been commodified by the neoliberal self-help industry into uncritical and universalizing concepts. As these contemporary caricatures of f...
In this paper, I address shortcomings in psychology's attempts at engaging with environmentalism, and provide a theoretical foundation from which psychologists can be more ecologically aware and contribute toward environmental and conservational efforts. I draw from feminist epistemology, and more specifically, ecofeminism, for nuanced and holistic...
Research on therapeutic environments is limited by the absence of theoretical considerations for an ethical ecology. This article aims to address some of those limitations by discussing some interdisciplinary possibilities in epistemology, ontology, and intersectionality as viable theoretical implications for conceiving therapeutic environments fro...
In this paper I propose a novel theoretical phenomenon, neonihilism, which follows a historical and theoretical trajectory from 19th-century nihilism and is distinguishable from another contemporary phenomenon, described as fashionable nihilism. Neonihilism is contextualized to a North American neoliberal capitalist social matrix, with meaning and...
The resurgence of psychedelic research explicitly targets treating mental health conditions largely through psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy. Current theories about mechanisms of change in psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy focus on mystical experiences as the main driver of symptom improvement. During these mystical experiences, participants r...
Research on authenticity continues to grow in diverse fields and under various definitions. I argue that the concept of authenticity has become a marketable self-branding strategy to meet the ends of neoliberal capitalism with often consequential and contradictory effects on subjectivity. Using Lehman et al.'s (2019) review of the various definitio...
A psychedelic industrial complex is emerging as new research on these substances and their effects are being approved. These substances show promise, but much remains unknown about their potential for both benefit and harm. Despite the paucity of reliable mechanistic evidence, some entrepreneurs have already begun to market psychedelic advice. We d...
