Baseline Resilience as a Predictor of Ayahuasca Acute Effects and Moderator of the Relationship between Acute Effects and Psychospiritual Outcomes

People with higher psychological resilience before an ayahuasca retreat reported more intense acute challenging experiences, such as nausea or emotional distress. Resilience also moderated how those challenging experiences related to later meaning-making: among participants with higher baseline resilience, the link between acute difficulty and a subsequent search for meaning in life was stronger. The findings suggest that resilience may help individuals transform difficult psychedelic moments into psychospiritual growth, pointing to the value of incorporating resilience-building into retreat preparation and integration programs.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Ayahuasca can produce a dynamic set of both positive and negative acute effects. Commonly reported challenges include physical symptoms (e.g., nausea, vomiting) and emotional distress (e.g., frightening hallucinations, paranoia). Despite these difficulties, many individuals describe their challenging experiences as contributing to personal healing and beneficial outcomes. However, little is known about how individual psychological capacities, such as resilience, influence the nature of these acute experiences and their psychospiritual outcomes. Resilience, defined as a dynamic capacity to adapt to adversity, may play a role in shaping both acute and enduring effects of ayahuasca. This study is among the first to assess whether baseline resilience predicts the intensity of acute challenging effects of ayahuasca and whether resilience moderates the relationship between acute effects and psychospiritual outcomes. Methods: This study adopted a longitudinal design with three timepoints (baseline/before ayahuasca retreats, T1; immediately post-retreat, T2; 1-month follow-up, T3). A total of 233 participants completed surveys across all timepoints ( M age =41.20, SD = 11.41; residency in North America = 86.7%; biological female = 56.2%; White/Caucasian = 83.3%). Results: Higher levels of baseline resilience significantly predicted more intensity of acute challenging experiences [ △ F (1,230) = 5.797, p = 0.017, Adjusted R 2 = 0.053]. In addition, in exploratory moderation analyses, resilience significantly moderated the relationship between acute challenging effects of ayahuasca and meaning-making in psychospiritual outcomes. Specifically, baseline resilience moderated the relationship between acute challenging experiences and the search for meaning in life ( β = 0.154, t = 2.444, p = 0.015), as well as the relationship between uncomfortable ayahuasca experiences and the search for meaning in life ( β = 0.134, t = 2.134, p = 0.034). Conclusions and Implications: These findings contribute to our understanding of how resilience influences the effects of ayahuasca and offer early evidence that resilience may play a role in how individuals process and make meaning from these challenging experiences over time. This highlights the importance of considering resilience as a factor that may support the transformation of difficult moments into psychospiritual growth. Future research and practice may consider incorporating a resilience framework into pre-retreat resilience promotion and post-retreat integration programs to enhance individuals’ overall experience and long-term benefits.