Are you saying the claim that psychedelics are effective treatment for depression, PTSD, addiction etc. are simply because those who try it suffer those conditions? What about the part where they say it works effectively? Because I don't think alcohol or cannabis are claimed to be an effective treatment for these conditions in the same way that psychedelics are. The idea that it works seems irrelevant to your conclusion.
sounds like a reasonable hypothesis, that people who are unhappy with their emotional/mental state might be more attracted to altering it, or might experience results they consider more positive.
how do our brains decide to do anything, like eat ice cream? "hey, I loved that last time". We know that drugs are not experienced as universally positive because many people who try them in college do not go on use them throughout their adult lives.
But the part you miss is that it works. This is anecdotal for now but people are looking at evaluating that more objectively.
It's not even a stretch if you squint at this. The currently accepted treatment is SSRIs, the second S standing for serotonin. Psychedelics work on serotonin receptors. Why would it be surprising that if you tweak your serotonin receptors, you get treatment for depression? Again, this is not true of alcohol or cannabis.
