Contemporary therapeutic methods strive to integrate the use of classic psychedelic substances (CPS) to address mental health issues. However, professionals still poorly understand the mechanisms of CPS and moreover, we still lack a unified categorisation of experiences with these substances. To offer a phenomenological, deeper insight in the nature of CPS (in contrast to reductionism) and examine personal growth following experiences with CPS, I conducted 31 interviews with participants who had a history of CPS use. On the basis of grounded theory and the use of deductive and inductive method of analysis, I was able to form a categorisation of experiences with CPS and provide an overview of areas of personal growth. With the use of theoretically based questions, I also examined the presence of personal growth. Results indicate the existence of seven categories of experiences with CPS: emotions, cognition, mystical experiences, perception, social relationships, introspectiveness, and body-related experiences. Categories encompassed a total of 39 subcategories. Furthermore, results indicate that less than half of participants met criteria for personal growth. Areas of personal growth ranged from dysfunctional thought pattern changes to higher levels of spirituality. The phenomenological approach – without attempts to rationalize participants’ experiences – offers an in-depth understanding and may help understand the effect of CPS on humans. Results also indicate that ingestion of CPS alone might not be responsible for improvements in mental health. These findings open many questions in the field of CPS. For future research, it would be beneficial to take into account the knowledge of other disciplines and to consider the role of spirituality as an important aspect of the human experience.
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