I think compassion is the basis of most healing. A prerequisite of compassion is granting another "thou-ness." That is, seeing the person as a human being, an individual. Not a mind to be altered, a collection of buttons to be pushed, a computer to be programmed.
It's my guess that these people feel alienated enough and that the use of mild altering technology would only serve to further that alienation and undermine their ability to feel real human contact, which is what these suffering individuals so desperately need.
Contrast the studies with psychedelics by the government with those by Timothy Leary with prison inmates.
The human factor is most important, I think.
