The Temporal Trajectory of the Psychedelic Mushroom Experience Mimics the Narrative Arc of the Hero’s Journey

Psychedelic therapy may work partly because its temporal structure mirrors the narrative arc of the Hero's Journey. A qualitative analysis of self-reported onset (comeup) and offset (comedown) phases of psilocybin experiences found that the comeup is more often characterized by negatively valenced feeling states, while the comedown is more often characterized by positively valenced feeling states resembling recovery from illness or adversity. This trajectory suggests that initially distressing altered states can ultimately resolve distress, offering a framework for understanding the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.

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Abstract

Abstract Psychedelic therapy has the potential to become a revolutionary and transdiagnostic mental health treatment, yielding enduring benefits that are often attributed to the experiences that coincide with peak psychedelic effects. However, there may be an underrecognized temporal structure to this process that helps explain why psychedelic and related altered states of consciousness can have a initially distressing but ultimately a distress-resolving effect. Here we present a qualitative analysis of the self-reported ‘comeup’ or onset phase, and ‘comedown’ or falling phase, of the psychedelic experience. Focusing on psilocybin or psilocybin-containing mushrooms, we show that the comeup is more often characterized by negatively valenced feeling states, while the comedown phase is more often characterized by positively valenced feeling states of the sort often observed following recovery from illness or adversity. In this way, the temporal trajectory of the psychedelic experience could be seen to mimic the narrative arc of the monomythical ‘Hero’s Journey’.