Open-Ended Inquiry of Psychedelic Experiences via First-Person Methodologies and Neurophenomenology

Psychedelic compounds produce rich, varied experiences that highlight the tension between objective and subjective perspectives. First-person approaches to studying these experiences remain underdeveloped in psychedelic science and clinical practice, limiting awareness of how context and culture shape the experience and its recollection. This can lead users and researchers to reify preexisting cultural categories, hindering broader and safer exploration. The chapter proposes that first-person and neurophenomenological approaches can help by fostering careful examination of psychedelic experiences and their relationship to brain dynamics. Empirical examples from the authors' research support this proposal, with suggestions for open-ended inquiry in psychedelic consciousness science and clinical practice.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Psychedelic compounds act on specific brain pro cesses, which can lead to rich experiences of wide phenomenological breadth.Because of this, psychedelic phenomena pre sent a unique opportunity to explore the tension between the objective and the subjective.However, in-depth first-person approaches fostering inquiry into the psychedelic experience are still underdeveloped in psychedelic science and clinical practice.This limitation can lead to a reduced awareness of how contextual and cultural factors may shape the experience and its recollection, which in turn may lead to users and researchers to forms of subjective realism in which preexisting culturally-loaded categories are reified, thereby hindering a broader, safer, and more efficacious exploration of psychedelic experiences.This chapter proposes that first-person and neurophenomenological approaches may significantly aid in these issues by fostering a careful and mediated examination of psychedelic experiences, and their relationship to brain dynamics.Empirical examples are provided to support this proposal based on our research involving psychedelic compounds, and suggestions are made to foster an open-ended inquiry in the emerging field of psychedelics in consciousness science and clinical practice.