Religious Perspectives on the Use of Psychopharmaceuticals as an Enhancement Technology

The use of psychopharmaceuticals as an enhancement technology has been the focus of attention in the bioethics literature. However, there has been little examination of the challenges that this practice creates for religious traditions that place importance on questions of being, authenticity, and i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health 2014-10, Vol.53 (5), p.1440-1455
Main Authors: Fitzpatrick, Scott J., Jordens, Christopher F. C., Kerridge, Ian H., Keown, Damien, Walter, James J., Nelson, Paul, Abdalla, Mohamad, Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani, Sarma, Deepak
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Bioethics
Biomedical Enhancement - methods
Buddhism
Catholicism
Clinical Psychology
Happiness
Hinduism
Humans
Islam
Judaism
Lutheranism
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental illness
Personal fulfillment
PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATION
Protestantism
Psychopharmacology
Psychotropic drugs
Psychotropic Drugs - therapeutic use
Psychotropics
Public Health
Religion & psychology
Religion and Medicine
Religious Studies
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Summary:The use of psychopharmaceuticals as an enhancement technology has been the focus of attention in the bioethics literature. However, there has been little examination of the challenges that this practice creates for religious traditions that place importance on questions of being, authenticity, and identity. We asked expert commentators from six major world religions to consider the issues raised by psychopharmaceuticals as an enhancement technology. These commentaries reveal that in assessing the appropriate place of medical therapies, religious traditions, like secular perspectives, rely upon ideas about health and disease and about normal human behavior. But unlike secular perspectives, faith traditions explicitly concern themselves with ways in which medicine should or should not be used to live a "good life".
ISSN:0022-4197
1573-6571
DOI:10.1007/s10943-013-9761-7