The varieties of ecstasy experience: a phenomenological ethnography.

An ethnographic study of ecstasy users in the Sydney area describes their experiences through a phenomenological framework. Users' reports are organized into nine thematic areas: initial reactions and peaking, the rush, plateau, coming down, love, peace and respect, social connections, unificatory experiences, and returning to baseline. The typical experiences confirm and extend interdisciplinary understandings of ecstasy, suggesting that a context-specific, phenomenologically attuned approach can contribute to research in Australia and internationally.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Ecstasy (MDMA) has attracted widespread attention with its association as a "recreational substance" that is concentrated in club and rave settings. This paper outlines a phenomenologically grounded ethnographic study of the experiences of ecstasy users in the Sydney, Australia, area. I espouse phenomenology as a framework for describing and understanding these experiences. A number of excerpts are presented from my primary corpus of ethnographic material. For the purposes of this paper I assemble user's reports into nine thematic areas: (1) initial reactions and peaking; (2) the rush; (3) plateau; (4) coming down/scattering; (5) love; (6) peace, love, understanding, and respect; (7) connections on ecstasy; (8) unificatory experiences; (9) returning to baseline. The typical experiences presented in these reports confirm and extend interdisciplinary approaches to understanding ecstasy. I suggest that a context-specific approach that is phenomenologically attuned to user's experiences with ecstasy can contribute to the growing body of literature undertaken in the Australian and international research community.