Frontiers in Psychology
December 16, 2021
Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson
39 citations
In a naturalistic field study, experienced users of the psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) were observed taking the drug at home (40–75 mg inhaled) and then interviewed immediately afterward. Thematic analysis of 36 interviews revealed that nearly all participants (94%) reported encountering other 'beings' with distinct roles, appearances, and forms of communication, while every participant described emerging into other 'worlds' with immersive scenes and contents. These findings systematically detail the hyper-real, otherworldly content of the breakthrough DMT experience and connect it to phenomena such as alien abduction accounts, shamanic journeys, and near-death experiences.
PloS one
January 1, 2025
Eirini K Argyri, Jules Evans, David Luke et al.
27 citations
Psychedelic experiences can sometimes trigger long-lasting existential distress, marked by confusion about existence and purpose, alongside cognitive, emotional, social, and bodily difficulties. Interviews with 26 people who experienced such distress revealed that ontological challenges—struggles with understanding reality—were common. Participants alleviated distress primarily through 'grounding' practices: embodiment, social connection, and cognitive normalization of their experience. The findings suggest psychedelic experiences act as pivotal mental states that can facilitate transformative learning, challenging and expanding meaning-making. This work contributes to understanding how people reestablish coherence and grow after ontologically challenging psychedelic experiences.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2023
Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson
19 citations
A person who had a near-death experience (NDE) while in a coma from bacterial meningoencephalitis later took 5MeO-DMT, an endogenous psychedelic. A thematic analysis of the NDE account and an interview about the drug experience found high comparability, including ego dissolution and transcendence of time and space. However, the NDE uniquely included a life review, encounters with the deceased, and a threshold experience. Despite similarities, the participant felt the two experiences were not similar enough to attribute the NDE to endogenous psychedelics. The authors speculate that the brain inflammation may have triggered neural activity similar to that of psychedelics, but note this hypothesis is speculative.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2023
Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson
16 citations
A naturalistic field study analyzed the content of breakthrough experiences after inhaling 40-75 mg of DMT in non-clinical home settings. Based on 36 interviews with experienced users (83% Caucasian, eight women, mean age 37), five overarching categories emerged: onset effects (sensory, emotion, body, space-time shifts), bodily effects (pleasurable, neutral, uncomfortable), sensorial effects (open-eye, visual, cross-modal), psychological effects (memory, language, awareness, sense of self, time distortions), and emotional effects (positive, neutral, challenging). The findings systematically detail the rich, self-referential content of the DMT state and its resonances with alien abduction, shamanic, and near-death experiences.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
December 31, 2024
Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson
3 citations
Two individuals who had both a near-death experience (NDE) and an experience with changa (a smoked mixture of DMT and MAOI-containing plants) reported medium to high perceived similarity between the two states. One case (SR) had an NDE from a misaligned vertebra and rated his changa experience as highly similar, though only 36% of specific features matched his NDE; however, his changa experience shared 83% of features with NDEs in general. The other case (DA), whose NDE began from an allergic reaction, reported medium similarity, with 42% feature overlap with his own NDE and also 83% similarity with NDEs generally. Content differences were typically DMT-like, but the sequence and presence of many features closely resembled NDEs.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2025
Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson
2 citations
A thematic and content analysis comparing naturalistic DMT experiences with near-death experiences (NDEs) found that DMT shares a basic phenomenological structure with NDEs, including canonical themes such as translocation, bright lights, sense of dying, the void, disembodiment, tunnel-like structures, light beings, deceased family, life review-like experiences, and hyper-empathic experiences. 95% of DMT participants reported at least one such theme. However, five classical NDE features were entirely absent from DMT, and DMT exhibited a broader array of features not present in NDEs. The two experiences diverge at a more nuanced qualitative level, with DMT being more prodigious, kaleidoscopic, and stereotypical. A minority of NDEs share significant content with DMT. The authors suggest DMT could be considered an 'NDE-mimetic' and discuss potential clinical applications.
World Futures
April 19, 2026
Pascal Michael
Alien abduction experiences—reports of being taken by non-human entities into craft-like environments—are scientifically contentious but can be explained by converging neuroscientific and psychological mechanisms. Leading neurobiological candidates include sleep paralysis, REM dreaming intrusion, temporoparietal and basal ganglial involvement, 'death feigning' reactivation, and serotonergic changes that alter self-experience. Predictive processing models integrate these factors, framing abduction as high-confidence inferences under sensory ambiguity and arousal, shaped by cultural expectations. Psychological factors like dissociation, fantasy proneness, absorption, suggestibility, memory vulnerability, and past trauma modulate susceptibility and narrative content. Parallels with psychedelic and near-death experiences suggest overlapping mechanisms, though context and meaning-making differ. The review offers an integrated framework while noting limitations and a minority of unexplained cases.