#meaninginlife — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: September 30, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: The surprising link between resilience and challenging ayahuasca experiences

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

A longitudinal study of people attending ayahuasca retreats found that those with higher levels of resilience before the retreat tended to report somewhat more intense challenging experiences during their ayahuasca ceremonies. More resilient participants also showed a stronger link between these difficult experiences and searching for meaning in life a month later. The paper was published in Psychedelic Medicine.

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by Indigenous communities in the Amazon for religious, spiritual, and therapeutic purposes. Its acute effects can include mystical experiences and psychological insights, but also difficult physical symptoms such as nausea and vomiting and emotional reactions such as fear, paranoia, or distressing hallucinations. These adverse experiences are referred to as challenges or challenging experiences.

People vary considerably in how they interpret these challenging experiences. Some describe them as harmful “bad trips,” while others view them as meaningful parts of healing or spiritual transformation. Individual characteristics such as age, previous psychedelic experience, motivation, mindset, and psychological state can influence both the immediate experience and its longer-term effects. The social and environmental settings in which ayahuasca is consumed can also shape its psychological impact.

In this context, resilience, a person’s capacity to adapt positively and recover when confronted with stressful or difficult experiences, might be particularly important. People with greater resilience might be better able to engage constructively with difficult emotions and experiences during ayahuasca use, potentially influencing whether challenging psychedelic effects ultimately contribute to positive psychospiritual outcomes.

Study author Yitong Xin and colleagues explored whether the acute effects of ayahuasca, and particularly its challenging effects, depend on a person’s resilience. More specifically, they examined the associations between resilience measured at the start of an ayahuasca retreat and acute challenging experiences reported at the end of the retreat, as well as whether resilience moderates the relationship between these experiences and psychospiritual outcomes reported 1 month after the retreat.

Data were collected between August 2022 and August 2023 at two Soltara Healing Center retreat locations, in Costa Rica and Peru. A representative of the Soltara Healing Center helped the researchers recruit participants. Of the 291 retreat guests who met the study criteria, 267 enrolled and completed a survey at the start of the retreat. Of these, 247 also completed the survey at the end of the retreat, and 233 completed it 1 month after the retreat. Participants’ average age was 41 years, and 56% were women. Most were White (83%), lived in North America (87%), and had a college education (95%).

In the surveys, study participants reported their demographic data and completed assessments of resilience (the Resilience Scale for Adults), challenging ayahuasca experiences (the Challenging Experience Questionnaire, the Ayahuasca Experience Inventory-Discomfort Subscale, and the Ayahuasca Purging Experience), meaning in life (the Meaning in Life Questionnaire), and personality (the Big Five Inventory-10). Study participants also reported on their previous use of psychedelic compounds and completed a questionnaire assessing the effects of the setting on them during the ayahuasca experience.

Results showed that 79% of participants had past experience with psychedelics, while 22% had used ayahuasca before. More than half of the participants reported at least moderately intense challenging experiences such as feelings that led to crying, body shaking or trembling, emotional or physical suffering, feelings of grief, and heart palpitations. In contrast, fewer than 5% of participants reported feeling that people were plotting against them. Nearly three-quarters of participants reported at least moderate exhaustion after taking ayahuasca.

Individuals with higher neuroticism (i.e., lower emotional stability) tended to report somewhat stronger acute challenging experiences. More resilient individuals also tended to report somewhat more intense acute challenging experiences.

Additionally, resilience measured at the start of the retreat moderated the link between challenging ayahuasca experiences and searching for meaning in life. More specifically, the more resilient a person was, the stronger the association between having an intense challenging experience and searching for meaning 1 month after the retreat. The same was true for uncomfortable ayahuasca-related experiences: their association with searching for meaning in life was stronger in more resilient participants. However, resilience did not moderate the links between these experiences and the presence of meaning in life, that is, the sense that one’s life already feels meaningful.

“Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of ayahuasca effects and resilience, highlighting ayahuasca’s therapeutic potential from a resilience standpoint. Evidence from this study could be used by mental health providers in support of preparation or integration therapy practices for individuals who seek out help following their ayahuasca retreat experience or those who are interested in attending retreats,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of ayahuasca experiences. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be drawn from the results. In addition, participants were predominantly White, college-educated, North American, and relatively affluent, and all attended retreats run by a single provider, so the findings may not generalize to other populations or settings.

The paper, “Baseline Resilience as a Predictor of Ayahuasca Acute Effects and Moderator of the Relationship between Acute Effects and Psychospiritual Outcomes,” was authored by Yitong Xin, Alan K. Davis, Susan Yoon, and Mo Yee Lee.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AyahuascaResilience #ChallengingExperiences #PsychedelicMedicine #MeaningInLife #MentalHealthSupport #ResilienceResearch #AyahuascaTherapy #IntegrationTherapy #SpiritualTransformation #PsychedelicStudy

DATE: September 23, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Fear of the unknown is linked to lower life satisfaction and heightened death anxiety

URL: https://www.psypost.org/fear-of-the-unknown-is-linked-to-lower-life-satisfaction-and-heightened-death-anxiety/

New psychology research indicates that a tendency to find unpredictable situations highly distressing is linked to lower overall life satisfaction. This connection appears to be driven by existential factors, with an inability to tolerate uncertainty relating to a reduced sense of life purpose and a heightened fear of death. The study was published in Psychological Reports.

Unpredictability is an inevitable part of human existence, ranging from daily inconveniences to global crises. For some people, navigating these unknowns is manageable. For others, ambiguous situations trigger a response known as intolerance of uncertainty. This psychological trait involves perceiving unpredictable events as threatening, unacceptable, and highly distressing.

Past research has established that an intolerance of uncertainty is associated with worry and anxiety. However, less attention has been given to how this trait relates to a broader evaluation of a person’s existence, known as life satisfaction. Life satisfaction is a subjective assessment of how well one’s current circumstances align with their personal goals and standards.

The research team wanted to explore whether existential concerns act as a bridge between a fear of the unknown and reduced life satisfaction. “In today’s world, individuals face unprecedented levels of unpredictability—ranging from global crises and economic shifts to personal life challenges,” Osman Hatun, an associate professor in the Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance at Marmara University in Türkiye, told PsyPost. “While prior research has extensively shown how intolerance of uncertainty fuels anxiety and distress, very little attention was given to how it impacts overall life satisfaction through existential processes.”

Hatun and his colleagues focused on two key existential processes: meaning in life and death anxiety. Meaning in life refers to the feeling that one’s existence has purpose, value, and a sense of direction. Death anxiety involves a persistent uneasiness or fear regarding mortality, the process of dying, and what happens after death.

Because death represents the most extreme uncontrollable and uncertain event, the researchers suspected that individuals who struggle with unpredictability might be especially vulnerable to death anxiety. They proposed a potential pathway where an intolerance of uncertainty relates to a weakened sense of meaning in life, which in turn leaves a person more vulnerable to death anxiety, resulting in lower life satisfaction.

To explore these ideas, the researchers recruited 485 adults living in Türkiye through social media platforms. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 63, with an average age of about 32. Most of the sample identified as female, and all participants reported having experienced at least one adverse life event, such as a natural disaster, severe illness, or the loss of a loved one.

The volunteers completed a series of online questionnaires designed to measure the four central concepts of the study. They answered questions about how upsetting they find unforeseen events to assess their intolerance of uncertainty. To evaluate their meaning in life, they rated how strongly they felt their lives had purpose.

The participants also completed a death anxiety scale, answering questions about how much the ambiguity and inevitability of dying made them anxious. Finally, they rated their agreement with statements regarding their overall life satisfaction, providing a snapshot of their subjective well-being. The researchers then used statistical modeling techniques to observe how these four variables interacted with one another, while accounting for the participants’ age, sex, and number of prior adverse life events.

The results indicated a negative association between an intolerance of uncertainty and life satisfaction. In other words, individuals who found ambiguity highly distressing tended to report lower satisfaction with their lives. The statistical models provided evidence for the researchers’ proposed existential pathway.

A higher intolerance of uncertainty was linked to a lower sense of meaning in life. A reduced sense of meaning in life was, in turn, associated with greater death anxiety. Finally, higher death anxiety was related to lower life satisfaction. Together, an intolerance of uncertainty and meaning in life accounted for 27 percent of the variance in death anxiety among the participants. The full model explained 43 percent of the variance in life satisfaction.

Hatun noted that the size of these effects is highly meaningful. “When looking at statistical models, individual indirect pathways might appear modest in number, but the overall picture reveals strong practical significance,” he said. “In psychological research, explaining nearly half of someone’s life satisfaction through a set of related factors is quite substantial.”

The researchers were also struck by the robustness of these existential links. “It was striking that this sequential existential path remained significant even after controlling for participants’ actual cumulative experiences with adverse life events, such as natural disasters, severe illness, or bereavement,” Hatun added. “This suggests that how a person mentally relates to uncertainty can be just as decisive for their life satisfaction as the objective hardships they have lived through.”

The findings suggest that the emotional burden of uncertainty extends beyond everyday worry. People who have difficulty tolerating the unknown may find it harder to maintain a coherent and purposeful view of life. Without a strong sense of purpose to act as a psychological buffer, they may become more preoccupied with mortality, which takes a toll on their overall contentment.

This dynamic highlights the importance of anchoring oneself in everyday purpose. “Because we cannot eliminate uncertainty from the world, trying to control every unknown is often a losing battle,” the researchers explained. “Instead, our findings suggest that the key to protecting our well-being lies in actively cultivating meaning and purpose in our daily lives—whether through core values, relationships, or community connections.”

The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2024, which examined how self-determination and psychological need satisfaction buffer death anxiety rather than modeling an intolerance of uncertainty. That study similarly found that death-related anxiety is linked to lower life satisfaction. Additionally, a 2021 study of older Hindu pilgrims indicated that experiencing a greater sense of meaning in life is linked to lower death anxiety, mirroring the associations found in the new Turkish sample.

However, the results are in tension with a study covered by PsyPost in 2023. That research found that for individuals with high self-alienation, a greater meaning in life was actually associated with heightened death anxiety. The new study, which evaluated a sample of Turkish adults and focused on an overall pathway rather than looking at specific interactions with self-alienation, did not model this reversed effect.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on data collected at a single point in time, meaning it is impossible to determine the true sequence of events. The researchers can observe that an intolerance of uncertainty and life satisfaction are linked through meaning in life and death anxiety, but they cannot prove that one factor directly causes the other to change. Hatun emphasized this constraint, noting that “cross-sectional data show indirect associations rather than definitive cause-and-effect over time.”

He also cautioned against overinterpreting the findings as a mandate for complete control. “A common misinterpretation we would want to preempt is the belief that intolerance of uncertainty directly or inevitably ruins a person’s life satisfaction, or that individuals must eliminate all uncertainty from their lives to be happy,” Hatun said. “Eliminating uncertainty is neither realistic nor necessary; what matters most is the existential buffer—how uncertainty influences our sense of meaning and purpose.”

Another caveat is that the data came entirely from self-report questionnaires, which rely on individuals accurately perceiving and reporting their own feelings. The sample also consisted exclusively of people who had experienced at least one adverse life event. Because trauma and loss can deeply influence existential thoughts, these patterns might look slightly different in a population without a history of severe adversity.

There is also the cultural context to consider when interpreting these results. In Türkiye, family obligations, community connections, and spiritual beliefs often heavily shape a person’s sense of meaning and their attitudes toward mortality. Hatun noted that because the sample consisted of Turkish adults recruited online, “caution should be exercised when generalizing these conclusions across diverse global populations without longitudinal replication.”

To build on this work, the research team hopes to trace these mechanisms in real time and test meaning-centered interventions. “We plan to examine these pathways across diverse cultural contexts and developmental stages, specifically exploring how cultural meaning frameworks—such as family connectedness and spiritual worldviews—serve as protective buffers,” Hatun said. Ultimately, the researchers hope to inform clinical approaches, such as Logotherapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, to help individuals cultivate resilience in an unpredictable world.

Above all, they hope the research fosters a more compassionate view of human struggles with the unknown. “We would like to emphasize that facing uncertainty is a fundamental part of the human condition, rather than an individual flaw or weakness,” Hatun added. “Our study highlights that while unpredictable events are inevitable, how we actively construct meaning in our daily lives provides an essential psychological anchor.”

The study, “Intolerance of Uncertainty and Life Satisfaction: The Mediating Roles of Meaning in Life and Death Anxiety,” was authored by Osman Hatun, Mark D. Griffiths, and Tuğba Türk Kurtça.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/fear-of-the-unknown-is-linked-to-lower-life-satisfaction-and-heightened-death-anxiety/

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #IntoleranceOfUncertainty #LifeSatisfaction #DeathAnxiety #MeaningInLife #ExistentialPsychology #MentalHealthResearch #Unpredictability # PurposeInLife #PsychologyStudies #PsychologicalWellBeing

When it comes to finding meaning in life, you need this emotion – Deseret News

When it comes to finding meaning in life, you need this emotion

A new study found hope is a ‘powerful emotional force’

Published: June 25, 2025, 11:39 a.m. MDT

By Lois M. Collins – Lois is a longtime Deseret News special projects and family issues reporter, including health, parenting, aging and policy.

KEY POINTS

• Hope is considered a ‘powerful emotional force’ that gives life meaning, exceeding the benefits of happiness or gratitude, a new study found.
• Psychology directly links hope to motivating somebody, goal setting and accomplishment, according to the researchers.
• Another study indicates hope to be more beneficial than mindfulness for dealing with extended periods of stress.

Reams of stories have been written about happiness and its contribution to a good life. We’ve all heard, too, that gratitude lifts well-being.

And while both effects are backed by science, a new study suggests that a different emotion is even more powerful when it comes to providing life with meaning, bolstering mental health and boosting resilience.

You have to have hope.

The researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia note that hope “isn’t just wishful thinking.” They describe hope as a “powerful emotional force that gives our lives meaning.” And they assert that it “may be even more essential to well-being than happiness or gratitude.”

In a news release about the study, which was published in the journal Emotion, the researchers note that the field of psychology has linked hope to motivation and setting and accomplishing goals. But researchers from the university’s Department of Psychological Sciences report that “hope stands apart as one of the strongest positive emotions that directly fosters a sense of meaning.”

Read more: When it comes to finding meaning in life, you need this emotion – Deseret News

Source Links: https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2025/06/25/hope-not-happiness-key-meaning-life-university-missouri-study/

#2025 #America #DeseretNews #Emotions #Health #Hope #Libraries #MeaningInLife #NewStudy #Research #Science #UnitedStates #UniversityOfMissouri

📚👪 Parenthood: More Meaning, Less Life Satisfaction? 🤔
A study by Dr Ansgar Hudde and Professor Dr Marita Jacob shows that parenthood is associated with lower life satisfaction, but higher meaning in life. 📊 The study is based on data from over 43,000 participants from 30 countries and the results are published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

Read more about the study and its findings ▶️ https://uni.koeln/EN35R

#UniKöln #UniCologne #Parenthood #LifeSatisfaction #MeaningInLife

Shared reality in romantic relationships reduces uncertainty and boosts meaning in life, study finds https://www.psypost.org/shared-reality-in-romantic-relationships-reduces-uncertainty-and-boosts-meaning-in-life-study-finds/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #RomanticRelationships #SharedReality #MeaningInLife #RelationshipAdvice #CoConstructedUnderstanding

"The capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance."

Pablo Casals

#quote #quoteoftheday #Caring #Life #meaninginlife #BeingHuman

#EffectiveAltruism, #Ethical #Pluralism, and #MeaninginLife

https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2024/08/effective-altruism-ethical-pluralism-and-meaning-in-life.html

On Descendants

Seeing non-human animals as the inheritors of our legacy

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://neotoma.site/p/on-descendants/

Does #religion/#spirituality actually predict #wellbeing?

Meara Geraty used data from 54 countries to find that in most countries, religion's/spirituality's relationship with well-being is fully mediated by (confounded with) #MeaningInLife, the more reliable predictor of well-being.

Replicating past work, the relationship with well-being seemed to depend on (among other things) #culture and #economics.

Follow Meara on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/meara-geraty

#psychology #stats #bigData #xPhi #ethics

Those who know me from the Bird Site around or before five years ago know that what was central to my purpose in life vanished in an instant (largely self-inflicted, so no need for sympathy, as I have none for myself). In the interim, I've been apparently asking some good questions to regain some sense of purpose regarding what I am good at, what I enjoy, and how I leave a legacy. I haven't sought out answers from those closest to me. That's next.

https://www.vox.com/even-better/23653236/how-to-find-life-purpose-values-talent

#meaninginlife