N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)-Occasioned Familiarity and the Sense of Familiarity Questionnaire (SOF-Q).

Among 227 naturalistic DMT experiences that felt familiar, the familiarity was not attributed to a prior psychedelic experience. Most (97.4%) included features of a mystical experience, 16.3% involved ego-dissolution, and 11.0% a profound sense of death. A new questionnaire identified five themes of familiarity: feeling or knowledge gained; place or environment; the act of going through the experience; transcendent features; and familiarity imparted by an entity encounter. Two stable participant classes emerged: one class more often reported familiarity from an entity encounter and from the feeling or knowledge gained. The sense of familiarity during DMT appears non-referential to past psychedelic use.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study investigated the sense of familiarity attributed to N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) experiences. 227 naturalistic inhaled-DMT experiences reporting a sense of familiarity were included. No experiences referenced a previous DMT or psychedelic experience as the source of the familiarity. A high prevalence of concomitant features discordant from ordinary consciousness were identified: features of a mystical experience (97.4%), ego-dissolution (16.3%), and a "profound experience of death" (11.0%). The Sense of Familiarity Questionnaire (SOF-Q) was developed assessing 19 features of familiarity across 5 themes: (1) Familiarity with the Feeling, Emotion, or Knowledge Gained; (2) Familiarity with the Place, Space, State, or Environment; (3) Familiarity with the Act of Going Through the Experience; (4) Familiarity with Transcendent Features; and (5) Familiarity Imparted by an Entity Encounter. Bayesian latent class modeling yielded two stable classes of participants who shared similar SOF-Q responses. Class 1 participants responded, "yes" more often for items within "Familiarity Imparted by an Entity Encounter" and "Familiarity with the Feeling, Emotion, or Knowledge Gained." Results catalogued features of the sense of familiarity imparted by DMT, which appears to be non-referential to a previous psychedelic experience. Findings provide insights into the unique and enigmatic familiarity reported during DMT experiences and offer a foundation for further exploration into this intriguing phenomenon.