Exploring the Experiential Mode of Transcendence in Terror Management and Self-Determination

Abstract

Prior research suggests that “mystical-type experiences” (MTEs) have the potential to induce significant and persisting worldview changes. MTEs are also implicated in positive outcomes in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The four studies in the present work seek to test the hypothesis that MTEs change worldviews and help in psychotherapy because MTEs, with proper integration, induce intrinsic shifts in aspirations and goals. Intrinsic goals, compared to extrinsic, are better at managing existential concerns, fulfilling basic psychological needs, and reducing psychiatric risk. Studies 1 (n = 837) and 2 (n = 1,036) used correlational data to show that people who have had an MTE, versus not, during their lives had more intrinsic and growth-oriented worldviews. Study 3 (n = 26) collected pre/post data from participants who used psychedelics at a music festival, testing the hypothesis that psychedelic-induced MTEs plus integration can elicit an intrinsic shift in goal aspirations. The primary hypothesis in Study 3 could not be properly tested due to ceiling effects on the dependent variable and low statistical power due to attrition. However, at Time 1 (n = 99), veteran psychedelic users reported higher openness, flourishing, and lower death anxiety, compared to less experienced psychedelic users. Study 4 (n = 45) tests the intrinsic shift hypothesis by teaming up with three facilitators of Conscious Connected Breathwork, a practice known to elicit MTEs, and collecting pre/post data from their clients. The primary hypothesis, that MTEs plus integration would be positively associated with shifts in autonomy causality orientation, was not upheld. However, integration, not MTEs, predicted a significant increase in feelings of connectedness with others, but not with oneself or the world. Together, Studies 1-4 provide correlational data supporting the intrinsic shift hypothesis, but quasi-experimental data that does not. More rigorous methods, including control groups and new dependent variables, are needed to validate or disprove the intrinsic shift hypothesis.