Increases in aesthetic experience following ayahuasca use: An open-label, naturalistic study
Jacob S. Aday, Emily K. Bloesch, Alan K. Davis, Sarah E. Domoff, Kyle C Scherr, Joshua Woolley, Christopher C. Davoli
May 15, 2023 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/gd8h2 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPeople who attended an ayahuasca retreat showed increased engagement with aesthetic experiences—such as appreciation of art, nature, and beauty—one week and one month afterward, compared to before the retreat. The study followed 54 participants and measured aesthetic experience using a validated questionnaire. Although participants reported strong mystical-type experiences, awe, and ego dissolution during their ayahuasca sessions, none of these acute effects predicted the long-term increase in aesthetic engagement. The open-label design limits certainty, but the findings support anecdotal reports that psychedelics can enhance aesthetic appreciation and point to a new area for future research.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Open-label longitudinal study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 54 |
| Population | Adults attending an ayahuasca retreat center |
| Intervention | Ayahuasca |
| Duration | One-month follow-up |
| Topics | Ayahuasca Mysticism |
| Keywords | Perception Psychotherapist Clinical psychology |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key finding | Participants showed increased levels of aesthetic experience at one-week and one-month follow-ups compared to baseline, and acute drug effects did not predict this change. |
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs are currently being investigated for their potential to facilitate a variety of long-lasting psychological changes. One area of psychological functioning that has yet to be systematically investigated in psychedelic research regards aesthetic experiences. This is surprising given the notable acute changes in perception induced by the drugs as well as the wealth of anecdotal reports of individuals reporting increased engagement in aesthetic experiences after psychedelic use. The current study was designed to address this gap in the literature by administering a validated measure of aesthetic experience one-week before, one-week after, and one-month after participants (N = 54) attended an ayahuasca retreat center. Participants also completed surveys indexing the extent to which they endorsed mystical-type experiences, awe, and ego dissolution during their ayahuasca sessions to identify potential predictors of long-term change. We found that compared to baseline, participants exhibited increased levels of aesthetic experience at both follow-ups. Measures of acute drug effects did not predict changes in aesthetic experience. Although the study was limited by an open-label design, the results support anecdotal reports regarding changes in aesthetic experience after psychedelic use and provide important groundwork for future study.