An exploration of effects of intentions on the perceived outcome of psychedelic experiences

Abstract

Intention is a complex phenomenon, which has behavioural implications. In the context of psychedelic use, it is believed to be linked to the outcome in the psychedelic practice, therefore individuals undertaking psychedelic journeys are explicitly advised to “set intentions”. At the same time, there is anecdotal evidence of "not getting the experience one wants, but an experience one needs". These two concepts seem to contradict each other. The review of the existing research (e.g., Basedow et al., 2022, Campo & Yali, 2024; Haijen et al., 2018; McAlpine et al., 2024a & 2024b) shows no availability of empirical data on possible connections between the intentions, the psychedelic experiences and their outcomes. Therefore, this is the first study of this kind to focus on a nuanced categorisation of the intentional landscape and on exploration of possible links between various intentions and the processes during and after the psychedelic experience.

Topics & conditions

Detected automatically by Psychedelic Commons from the title and abstract, not labels from the source. They may be incomplete.

Keywords