Navigating groundlessness: An interview study on dealing with ontological shock and existential distress following psychedelic experiences

Abstract

Psychedelic induced mystical experiences have been largely assumed to drive the therapeutic effects of these substances, which may in part be mediated by changes in metaphysical beliefs. However, there is growing evidence that psychedelic experiences can also trigger long lasting distress. Studies of persisting difficulties suggest a high prevalence of ontological challenges (related to the way people understand reality and existence). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 people who reported experiencing existential distress following psychedelic experiences. We explored the phenomenology of participants’ difficulties and the ways they navigated them, including what they found helpful and unhelpful in their process. Thematic analysis revealed that participants experienced persistent existential struggle, marked by confusion about their existence and purpose and preoccupation with meaning-making. Along with cognitive difficulties stemming from the ungrounding of their prior frameworks for understanding, participants’ ontologically challenging experiences also had significant emotional, social, bodily and other functional impact. Participants managed to alleviate their distress primarily through ‘grounding’: practices of embodiment and the social and cognitive normalisation of their experience. Our findings suggest that psychedelic experiences act as pivotal mental states that can facilitate transformative learning processes, challenging and expanding the ways individuals make meaning. This research contributes to the growing field of psychedelic integration by exploring the complex pathways through which people reestablish coherence and grow following ontologically challenging psychedelic experiences.