Estudio fenomenológico de experiencias psiquedélicas de personas que han participado en sesiones de terapia con ayahuasca

Title:

Phenomenological study of psychedelic experiences of people who have participated in ayahuasca therapy sessions

Author: Erik Hendrick Carpio

Publication Date: Received September 10, accepted October 19, 2019

Bibliographic Citation: Hendrick, E. (2019). . Revista Peruana de Psicología y Trabajo Social 8(2), 47-66.

Abstract

This study examines the psychedelic experiences of individuals participating in ayahuasca therapy sessions. It is a qualitative research that uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a methodological tool for the description and interpretation of the studied phenomenon. The phenomenological reduction of ayahuasca experiences aimed to describe and interpret the various psychological effects experienced by participants during and after their experiences, in the short and long term. Concepts and psychological theory primarily from depth and archetypal psychology, humanistic psychology, and transpersonal psychology are used to define the main constructs employed in the study. The results led to the development of three main themes: first, the motivations that drive people to participate in ayahuasca therapy sessions were explored; then, different types of experiences that occur during the process were classified, describing various aspects; and finally, the way people experience the positive effects of ayahuasca therapy, in the short and long term, was described. These considerations helped conclude that the way people perceive and interpret their experiences is very important; because the depth and duration of the impact experienced will depend on it, which occurs at different levels; covering the instinctive, the emotional, various cognitive processes, and the spiritual.

Keywords: Ayahuasca research, phenomenological study, psychedelic experience, expanded states of consciousness, transpersonal psychology

Introduction

This work was developed with the collaboration of the Sapan Inka Retreat Center, located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, in Cusco, Peru. This retreat center has been continuously practicing ayahuasca therapies for over ten years, and thanks to their support, it was possible to access a group of people with the required characteristics for sample selection. The objective of the research is to describe the psychedelic experiences that people have when participating in ayahuasca sessions in a therapeutic setting.

To achieve the objectives of this research, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used as the research design. IPA is a research method developed in the 1990s and is currently one of the most widely used qualitative methods in psychology in the United Kingdom, although its use is rapidly expanding worldwide. IPA strongly connects with the phenomenological and hermeneutic intellectual currents, with a special focus on subjective and personal experiences addressed by psychology. IPA is phenomenological in terms of participants' perception and description, but it is also interpretative due to the researcher's concern and interest in making sense of the experience (Smith et al., 2009). It is important for researchers using IPA to engage with its theoretical and epistemological foundations, while recognizing that the researcher is not a philosopher and that the basis of their research lies in pragmatic concerns. For Smith et al. (2009), IPA wants researchers to adopt a sensibility imbued with these foundations, a phenomenological and hermeneutic stance that helps them achieve their research objectives.

Husserl's phenomenology studies what is experienced in the individual's consciousness. In phenomenological terms, when referring to experience or consciousness, it is always consciousness of something. And that something, the object or event of which we are conscious, may have been stimulated by the perception of an object or event in the material world (Smith et al., 2009). However, it is also possible that what we are conscious of may have been stimulated by the perception of an event occurring in psychic reality. This is why it is so important to consider this philosophical understanding as the theoretical foundation of this research, which studies the emergent products of the psychic world that manifest from the use of a visionary substance like ayahuasca. The phenomenological attitude, as a theoretical foundation of the research, accompanies not only the research design but also data collection, and definitively, its interpretation, analysis, and conclusions.

Next, the main psychological constructs used in the study and the psychological theories that allow for a complete appreciation of the studied phenomenon are reviewed.

You can visit the thesis here:

Estudio científico Ayahuasca