Navigating the pluripotency of psychedelic experience: Learning from the challenges of destabilisation, towards the possibility of ontological transfiguration

Psychedelic experiences disrupt ordinary perception and can reveal that the reality we inhabit, and the self we take ourselves to be, are sustained by tacit assumptions that can dissolve. This dissolution is pluripotent and can be destabilising: the loosening of ontological foundations can catalyse profound transformative learning and precipitate prolonged distress. This thesis investigates how psychedelic-induced ontological destabilisation unfolds over time, and the conditions under which it moves towards growth or stalls into fragmentation. Five studies examine aspects of this destabilisation and how it is navigated in the aftermath of psychedelic experiences. The studies document the phenomenology of ontological shock and extended difficulties; epistemic shifts that can follow psychedelic experiences; the loosening of constructed gender and sexuality scripts and movement toward authenticity; and practitioner perspectives on integration challenges, identifying effective forms of scaffolding for supporting individuals navigating through destabilisation. Synthesising these findings with neurobiological accounts of psychedelic action and developmental models, the thesis develops an original theoretical contribution: the Ontologically Diversifying Experiences (ODE) framework. This framework conceptualises psychedelic experiences as loosening the ontological priors through which selfhood and reality are organised, opening a pluripotent developmental window in which new structures of meaning and identity can emerge. It suggests that whether and how this potential is navigated towards growth and ontological transfiguration (a foundational reconfiguration of the structures through which selfhood and world-relation are constituted), or remains stalled in forms of closure and fragmentation, is shaped by trust-mediated access to adaptive resources. Three interdependent domains of trust (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal) are introduced as key enabling conditions through which internal resources and external scaffolding become accessible. Further, structural barriers that constrain this navigation (stigma, epistemically narrow cultural frameworks, and expectancy inflation) are identified. This thesis offers an empirically informed and theoretically grounded account of how psychedelic pluripotency pathways are shaped. It moves beyond therapeutic vs. harmful binary framings and foregrounds the role of navigation conditions in shaping post-experience trajectories. The discussion extends to implications for psychedelic harm reduction and integration, clinical practice and policy, and by structural analogy offers a lens for reflecting on how individuals and societies might become better equipped to navigate periods of destabilising uncertainty.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Eirini Ketzitzidou Argyri (21065669)

• Psychedelic experiences
• Ontological disruption
• Integration
• Transformative Learning
• challenging psychedelic experiences
• Harm reduction

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY-NC

Identifier

10779/exe.32671509.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32671509