The trajectory of psychedelic, spiritual, and psychotic experiences: implications for cognitive scientific perspectives on religion

A theory-building paper compares the trajectory of psilocybin mushroom experiences—aversive comeup, awe-inspiring peak, relief and clarity in the comedown—with spiritual and incipient psychotic experiences. It argues that these shared trajectories inform cognitive scientific perspectives on religion. The authors propose a causal pathway where stress, uncertainty, and arousal increase perception of extra agency (PEA), which may lead either to states that downregulate PEA or to states that perpetuate it. Religions could modulate this pathway to promote social cohesion. The paper emphasizes the need for phenomenological nuance when comparing psychedelic, spiritual, and psychotic experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Fruitful comparison of psychedelic, spiritual, and psychotic experiences requires a degree of phenomenological nuance. Some shared features of these phenomena, such as encounters and communications with supernatural entities, are obfuscated by scientific and clinical terminology. Other supposed distinctions are based on an atemporal view of dynamic experiences. In Section 2 of this theory-building paper, we examine how the trajectory of the psilocybin mushroom experience—from aversive feelings during the comeup, to awe-inspiring peak experience, to relief and clarity in the comedown—maps onto the trajectory of spiritual and incipient psychotic experiences. In Section 3 we argue that the shared trajectory of these experiences informs cognitive scientific perspectives on religion. Specifically, we propose a causal pathway in which stress, uncertainty, and arousal increase perception of extra agency (PEA) which may lead either to physio-emotional states and beliefs that downregulate PEA or to physio-emotional states and beliefs that perpetuate PEA. In Section 4 we examine how religions could modulate the causal pathway proposed in Part 2 to promote social cohesion.