Moments of insight, healing, and transformation: A cognitive phenomenological analysis

Abstract

In this chapter, I examine instances of special significance in people's experience with ayahuasca. Specifically, I consider instances in which psychological insights are gained and personal transformation and/or healing take place. The analysis provides a structural typology of facets of the ayahuasca experience based on empirical data gathered in a broader study that presents a systematic charting of the phenomenology of the special state of mind induced by this brew. The analysis and discussion are from a phenomenological cognitive-psychological approach rather than a clinical-psychological or medical perspective.