Phenomenology of Psychedelic Experiences

No psychedelic experience is quite the same as any another. They are famous for dramatic visual effects – but some people barely experience those at all. They tend to make people feel happy and connected, but are also perfectly capable of the opposite. Psychedelic experiences can be personally meaningful or absolutely ridiculous, blissful or terrifying, influenced by expectations or curiously unbound to them – and sometimes all of this at once. Enter scientists, attempting to measure all of this!

We are interested in the wide variety of experiences that both patients and healthy people can have on psychedelics, as well as how different types of experiences impact people afterward. Current projects are focused on how to measure psychedelic experiences while interfering with their content and interpretation as little as possible, as well as how different aspects of psychedelic experiences relate to changes in personality, values, and well-being. In collaboration with the ALPS Foundation, we are also investigating which aspects of a person and their environment (“set and setting”) impact psychedelic experiences the most, for better or for worse.