'Trust the medicine?' Presenting at the TQR 17th Annual Conference

I recently presented ‘Trust the medicine?’ Ayahuasca visions and longer-term change at the TQR 17th Annual Conference, an online qualitative research conference held 23–26 March 2026. The conference theme was “A Matter of Trust” — a fitting frame for research that asks whether participants trust what ayahuasca shows them, and what happens when they do.

The presentation drew on my longitudinal PhD study, in which I followed eight participants to the Peruvian Amazon, gathering data before a 10-day retreat, during it, and six months later. I participated alongside them, combining semi-structured interviews with ethnographic immersion. Analysis proceeded idiographically — constructing individual trajectories before examining convergence and divergence across cases.

I identified three trajectory types. Participants in the positive group described visions that delivered insight and guidance. Trusting what ayahuasca “showed” them, they made concrete life changes: career transitions, relationship decisions, and addiction recovery milestones. Others followed incomplete trajectories where visions proved difficult to interpret or trust. A third group reported minimal visionary experience and no meaningful change relative to their hopes.

These findings challenge easy narratives of psychedelic transformation. I was glad to share them with the TQR community — a rigorous audience for qualitative work — and to reflect on what it means to conduct longitudinal IPA in practice.

This research is part of my PhD at Birkbeck, University of London, in collaboration with King’s College London, Onaya.Science, and the Ayahuasca Foundation.