I think "westerners" are simply more focused on materialism and rationalism, so they are a lot more afraid of losing the body and the mind, even temporarily. A "bad trip" is not determined by what you perceive, it's determined by how you handle it. What does a "scientific view" give you when you are completely deconstructed or a bunch of evil creatures feed on your spirit? Right, nothing.

Science is a constructed illusion of structure within a dream and knowledge is ignorance.