What do we mean by “Psychedelic Knowledge” in Medical Education? A Scoping Review and Taxonomy of Educational Representations
Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Despite growing interest in integrating “psychedelic knowledge” into medical and health professions training, the term remains inconsistently conceptualised and operationalised across the literature. This scoping review investigates how psychedelic knowledge is represented, justified and translated within medical education scholarship. Using the Mak and Thomas (2022) methodological framework, we systematically searched five databases: ERIC, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Scopus. We identified 28 studies addressing psychedelic education across undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, continuing professional education and mixed educational contexts. Through descriptive mapping and interpretive analysis, we developed an empirically emergent taxonomy that classifies psychedelic knowledge into four conceptual categories: (1) Attitudinal Knowledge, (2) Preparatory Knowledge, (3) Technical Knowledge and (4) Experiential–Relational–Formational Knowledge. While psychedelic education was commonly justified by linking present educational conditions with anticipated workforce needs, regulatory change, implementation readiness, and future clinical practice, we observed substantial variability in learner populations, educational aims, pedagogical approaches, and the forms of knowledge represented. The literature was predominantly recent and survey-based, with educational justifications most commonly reflecting a transitional orientation between present educational needs and anticipated future developments, and relatively few studies describing or evaluating structured educational programmes. This conceptual pluralism, while reflecting the multidisciplinary character of psychedelic knowledge scholarship in medical education, complicates curriculum development, comparative evaluation and assessment by combining distinct educational objects under a single label. Our findings offer a conceptual map of how psychedelic knowledge is currently situated within medical education and provide a taxonomy to support greater clarity, coherence and intentionality in the design, implementation and assessment of psychedelic education.</p>
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