Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical Type Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics
This study (n=57) assessed the experiences of people undergoing a Virtual Reality (VR) journey using the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30). 'Isness' is a VR experience developed using concepts, methods and analysis strategies from psychedelic research. It was found that Isness participants reported Mystical Type Experiences comparable to those reported in double-blind clinical studies after high doses of psilocybin and LSD.
Authors
- Glowacki, D. R.
- Wonnacott, M. D.
- Freire, R.
Published
Abstract
Studies combining psychotherapy with psychedelic drugs (Ds) have demonstrated positive outcomes that are often associated with 'Ds' ability to induce 'mystical-type' experiences (MTEs) i.e., subjective experiences whose characteristics include a sense of connectedness, transcendence, and ineffability. We suggest that both PsiDs and virtual reality can be situated on a broader spectrum of psychedelic technologies. To test this hypothesis, we used concepts, methods, and analysis strategies from D research to design and evaluate 'Isness', a multi-person VR journey where participants experience the collective emergence, fluctuation, and dissipation of their bodies as energetic essences. A study (N=57) analyzing participant responses to a commonly used D experience questionnaire (MEQ30) indicates that Isness participants reported MTEs comparable to those reported in double-blind clinical studies after high doses of psilocybin and LSD. Within a supportive setting and conceptual framework, VR phenomenology can create the conditions for MTEs from which participants derive insight and meaning.
Research Summary of 'Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical Type Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics'
Introduction
Glowacki and colleagues situate their work within a resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs (YDs) and the observation that many therapeutic benefits of YDs correlate with their capacity to occasion "mystical-type experiences" (MTEs) characterised by unity, connectedness, ineffability, noetic quality, and transcendence of time and space. They note that similar phenomenological elements have been discussed in human–computer interaction (HCI) literature concerned with meaning-making, and argue that immersive technologies might sit on a broader continuum of "psychedelic technologies" capable of producing MTE-like states without pharmacology. The study sets out to design, implement, and evaluate Isness, a guided multi-person virtual reality (VR) journey informed by concepts and measurement tools from YD research. Using a combination of design concepts (e.g., matter-as-energy narrative, mudra-based interaction), a reproducible set of aesthetic parameters and a standardised post-session questionnaire (MEQ30), the investigators ask whether a supportive VR setting can occasion peak experiences comparable, in at least some respects, to those reported after moderate-to-high doses of classical psychedelics. They frame Isness as a proof-of-concept for creating meaningful, ego-dissolving, and connected experiences in VR that participants might find insightful and therapeutically relevant.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compounds
- Topic
- APA Citation
Glowacki, D. R., Wonnacott, M. D., Freire, R., Glowacki, B. R., Gale, E. M., Pike, J. E., de Haan, T., Chatziapostolou, M., & Metatla, O. (2020). Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical Type Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376649
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