A new study published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs challenges common assumptions about the role of awe in psychedelic experiences. While awe is often viewed as a positive and transformative emotion, researchers found that when it came to ayahuasca retreat participants, experiencing intense awe—especially the kind characterized by a sense of vastness—was not necessarily linked to better well-being.
Instead, people who reported mystical experiences involving lower levels of perceived vastness were more likely to report higher well-being. The findings suggest that there may be an optimal “dose” of vastness during psychedelic journeys, and too much of it might overwhelm rather than heal.
Psychedelic substances like ayahuasca have received growing attention for their potential to support mental health. These effects are often linked to deep emotional and spiritual experiences, sometimes referred to as “mystical” in nature. Previous studies have suggested that these mystical experiences, and the feelings of awe they often evoke, are central to the benefits people report. But the new research complicates this picture, showing that not all awe is beneficial—at least not in the same way, or to the same extent.
Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian brew made from the vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the leaves of Psychotria viridis. The drink contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful psychedelic compound, and is used in ceremonial contexts among Indigenous peoples in South America. In recent decades, it has become popular in Western countries for its reported psychological and spiritual benefits.
Participants often attend multi-day retreats guided by shamans or facilitators, where ayahuasca is consumed in controlled and ritualized settings. Many people describe their experiences as deeply meaningful, involving shifts in their sense of self, vivid visions, and an overwhelming sense of connection or insight.
The research team behind the new study has previously investigated awe in a variety of contexts. They were interested in exploring how awe functions in psychedelic settings, particularly with a substance like ayahuasca that is known for producing intense emotional and perceptual effects.
Awe is often described as a self-transcendent emotion triggered by encounters with vastness—something so large or powerful it challenges the way we see ourselves or the world. While awe has been associated with benefits like increased life satisfaction, reduced stress, and greater social connectedness, it can also be overwhelming and even frightening when the experience feels too vast to mentally process.
“As a research team, we have been interested in the experience of awe and its potentially profound effect on people, including on their well-being, beliefs about themselves and the world we live in, and the memorability of the experience itself,” said study author Lee Kannis-Dymand, a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of the Sunshine Coast and co-author of How to Deal with Anxiety.
“We have looked at the experience of awe in a range of contexts, including nature, adventure tourism (whale watching and swimming), gaming, and now psychedelics. Many of our research projects are enthusiastically conducted by our psychology masters students including this one, by Brant Maclean.”
To study this, researchers recruited participants who had attended at least one ayahuasca retreat in a country where the use of ayahuasca is legal or approved, such as in parts of South America and Europe. They initially gathered responses from 640 people, but due to issues like incomplete answers, potentially AI-generated responses, or attendance at retreats in countries where ayahuasca is illegal, the final sample included 60 adults. The majority were from the United States or Europe, with an average age of about 35. Half identified as male and nearly half as female.
Participants answered a series of questions about their most recent retreat experience, including how many times they consumed ayahuasca, how long it had been since the retreat, and how many retreats they had attended in total. They also completed several validated psychological questionnaires measuring their well-being, the intensity of their mystical experience, and their feelings of awe during the retreat. The awe measures focused on two key components: “perceived vastness” and the “need for accommodation,” or the sense that one’s understanding of the world is being challenged and must be adjusted.
The researchers initially expected that higher levels of awe would be associated with greater well-being. They also predicted that mystical experiences characterized by awe would offer the strongest benefits. But neither prediction was supported.
In fact, the results suggested a more complex pattern. While mystical experiences were generally linked to feelings of awe, only those that involved moderate or lower levels of perceived vastness were significantly associated with higher well-being. By contrast, mystical experiences that were paired with very high levels of vastness—what the researchers described as superfluous vastness—were linked to lower well-being.
This suggests that there may be a “sweet spot” in the emotional intensity of these experiences, where the vastness feels expansive and humbling but not overwhelming or destabilizing. The researchers referred to this as sufficient vastness—a level of vastness that promotes insight and reflection without tipping into psychological overload.
“In this study, we were interested in the role of awe in people who attend ayahuasca retreats,” Kannis-Dymand told PsyPost. “What we found was that the perception of something being vast, a component of awe, was associated with psychedelic-related mystical experiences that resulted in higher well-being outcomes than in those who did not experience awe-related vastness.”
Interestingly, one specific item in the vastness questionnaire—“I felt meaningless in front of what I saw during the psychedelic experience”—was positively associated with well-being. This indicates that confronting a sense of insignificance can, paradoxically, be beneficial, possibly by encouraging meaning-making or a reevaluation of one’s place in the world. But not all forms of vastness seem to have this effect. Other aspects—such as feeling diminished or engulfed—may push the experience into territory that is too intense to be integrated, potentially reducing its positive impact.
The researchers offered several possible interpretations for these findings. One is that awe, when it crosses a certain threshold, may begin to feel threatening or disorienting rather than enlightening. This aligns with previous research showing that awe can evoke fear or distress when the experience becomes too large to process or is perceived as incomprehensible.
In psychedelic contexts, this might happen when someone is confronted with imagery, emotions, or sensations that feel so massive or alien that they overwhelm the person’s psychological defenses. When the experience exceeds the individual’s capacity to make sense of it—either during the session or in the days and weeks that follow—it may lead to confusion or emotional turmoil rather than insight. On the other hand, mystical experiences that are intense but still within the bounds of “sufficient vastness” may create space for personal growth, emotional release, and lasting psychological benefit.
Another possibility is that the effects of awe and mystical experience depend heavily on context, preparation, and individual readiness. The study found that participants who had more recently attended a retreat reported higher well-being, suggesting that the benefits may fade over time. In addition, people who had attended more retreats or consumed ayahuasca more frequently tended to report less intense awe. This may reflect a kind of emotional acclimation—where the novelty and intensity of the experience diminish with repeated exposure, making extreme reactions like superfluous vastness less likely.
“Ayahuasca can have transformational and beneficial effects on people,” Kannis-Dymand said. “However, it is essential to go to a reputable retreat that offers ayahuasca within a traditional, cultural setting with appropriate onsite support.”
There were also notable demographic patterns. Younger participants tended to report higher well-being and more frequent ayahuasca consumption during their most recent retreat. Older individuals had attended more total retreats but did not show the same level of well-being. Gender differences also emerged, with males attending more retreats overall and females consuming ayahuasca more times during a single retreat. However, these differences did not seem to directly influence well-being.
As with all research, there are limitations. The sample size was small, and participants were drawn only from countries where ayahuasca is legally sanctioned in retreat settings. This limits the ability to generalize the findings to broader populations, especially in countries where use remains illegal or unregulated. The researchers also did not collect pre- and post-retreat data on well-being, so it’s unclear how much change occurred as a result of the experience.
Despite these limitations, the study offers a new perspective on how awe functions in psychedelic settings. Rather than assuming that more awe is always better, the findings suggest that the emotional qualities of the experience—how vast, overwhelming, or manageable it feels—play an important role in determining outcomes.
The researchers propose that future studies explore how to shape or support mystical experiences in a way that maintains their transformative power without becoming too overwhelming. This could be especially relevant for retreat facilitators and clinicians who aim to create safe and supportive environments for psychedelic healing.
“We recently published a psychological model of awe and continue to conduct research to explore awe in a range of settings and build empirical evidence for our proposed model,” Kannis-Dymand added. “We encourage people to seek time in nature or in anything that evokes awe in them as we know awe is a buffer against negative mental health, that it promotes a sense of connection to others and our environment, and can foster positive beliefs.”
The study, “Ayahuasca Retreats: The Role of Awe and Mystical Experiences in Well-Being,” was authored by Brant Maclean, Amy Wilson, Andrew Allen, Vikki Schaffer, and Lee Kannis-Dymand.
