Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

Abstract

Background: Recent years have seen a resurgence of research on the potential of psychedelic substances to treat addictive and mood disorders. Historically and contemporarily, psychedelic studies have emphasized the importance of contextual elements ('set and setting') in modulating acute drug effects, and ultimately, influencing long-term outcomes. Nevertheless, current small-scale clinical and laboratory studies have tended to bypass a ubiquitous contextual feature of naturalistic psychedelic use: its social dimension. This study introduces and psychometrically validates an adapted Communitas Scale, assessing acute relational experiences of perceived togetherness and shared humanity, in order to investigate psychosocial mechanisms pertinent to psychedelic ceremonies and retreats.Methods: In this observational, web-based survey study, participants (N = 886) were measured across five successive time-points: 2 weeks before, hours before, and the day after a psychedelic ceremony; as well as the day after, and 4 weeks after leaving the ceremony location. Demographics, psychological traits and state variables were assessed pre-ceremony, in addition to changes in psychological wellbeing and social connectedness from before to after the retreat, as primary outcomes. Using correlational and multiple regression (path) analyses, predictive relationships between psychosocial 'set and setting' variables, communitas, and long-term outcomes were explored.Results: The adapted Communitas Scale demonstrated substantial internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92) and construct validity in comparison with validated measures of intra-subjective (visual, mystical, challenging experiences questionnaires) and inter-subjective (perceived emotional synchrony, identity fusion) experiences. Furthermore, communitas during ceremony was significantly correlated with increases in psychological wellbeing (r = 0.22), social connectedness (r = 0.25), and other salient mental health outcomes. Path analyses revealed that the effect of ceremony-communitas on long-term outcomes was fully mediated by communitas experienced in reference to the retreat overall, and that the extent of personal sharing or ‘self-disclosure’ contributed to this process. A positive relationship between participants and facilitators, and the perceived impact of emotional support, facilitated the emergence of communitas.Conclusion: Highlighting the importance of intersubjective experience, rapport, and emotional support for long-term outcomes of psychedelic use, this first quantitative examination of psychosocial factors in guided psychedelic settings is a significant step toward evidence-based benefit-maximization guidelines for collective psychedelic use.

Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs

“…Automatic email reminders were then sent out at multiple time-points at baseline (one week before the experience), one day after the experience and 4 weeks after the indicated date of the experience to participants who signalled consent, including links to surveys hosted on the online platform SurveyGizmo. All methods were carried out by relevant guidelines and regulations (see Kettner et al79 for details).Survey findings were complemented by results from controlled a controlled clinical-trial comparing psilocybin versus escitalopram treatment for major depression. The data from 59 participants with major depression (>17 on Hamilton-Depression [HAM-D-17] scale at screening) who completed the trial was used (30 participants for psilocybin and 29 for escitalopram).…”

Relational Processes in Ayahuasca Groups of Palestinians and Israelis

“…Classic psychedelics are a family of drugs whose central mode of action is through the 2A receptor of the serotonergic system (Nichols, 2016). Their effect is known to be context-dependent Hartogsohn, 2017;Hartogsohn, 2020), and they are known to produce a myriad of intense experiences (Harner, 1973;Grof, 1975Grof, /2016Shanon, 2002), including so-called mystical-type and ego-dissolution experiences (Pahnke and Richards, 1966;Griffiths et al, 2008;Nour et al, 2016), emotional breakthrough, release or catharsis and psychological processing of traumatic events (Frederking, 1955;Riba et al, 2006;Gasser et al, 2014;Belser et al, 2017;Roseman et al, 2019), challenging high-anxiety experiences (Carbonaro et al, 2016), prophetic-type experiences (Strassman, 2014), visionary and hallucinatory experiences (Knauer and Maloney, 1913;Klüver, 1926;Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1975;Luna andAmaringo, 1991/1999;Shanon, 2002;Roseman, 2019), and experiences of social connection (Dolder et al, 2016;Pokorny et al, 2017;Apud, 2020b;Forstmann et al, 2020;Kettner et al, 2021). The context-dependent quality of psychedelics has led them to be referred as 'non-specific amplifiers' (Grof, 1975(Grof, / 2016)meaning they intensify whatever is in the vicinity of the experiencer, whether good or bad or intrinsically (e.g., in their own mind) or extrinsically located (i.e., in their immediate environment).…”

“…Yet, in addition to the above personal experiences, there are important participatory and relational elements in ayahuasca ceremonies that deserve greater attention from researchers. Several studies have reported psychedelic induced group emotional synchrony, communitas, or other relational processes, whether in rituals (La Barre, 1938Barre, /1975Gearin, 2016a;Kettner et al, 2021), festivals (Saldanha, 2007;St John, 2009;Winkelman, 2015;Forstmann et al, 2020), or group therapy (Trope et al, 2019). Within some indigenous shamanic traditions, healing is pursued through the relational act of singing.…”

“…One of the relational processes observed in psychedelic ceremonies and festivals is communitas (Tramacchi, 2000;St John, 2008;Kettner et al, 2021). Victor and Edith Turner describe communitas as a temporary state in which social structure and power dynamics dissolve (Turner, 1969(Turner, /2017Turner, 2012).…”

The Setting Questionnaire for the Ayahuasca Experience: Questionnaire Development and Internal Structure

“…For this, a statistical correlation was calculated between responses on standard psychological and health questionnaires among participants of different ayahuasca denominations. Kettner et al ( 2021 ) developed and investigated the psychometric properties of a short instrument—eight items—to assess what the authors have called Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions, evaluating how participants of ayahuasca rituals related to each other during sessions and established social bonds among themselves. However, as the ayahuasca consumption setting is complex and involves other domains in addition to these, the development of more instruments is necessary.…”