Why Some People Feel Worse After Ayahuasca

Many people leave a ceremony or retreat expecting relief, clarity, or a sense of resolution. When they return home feeling more anxious, emotionally exposed, or unstable, the experience can be deeply confusing. Sleep often deteriorates. Focus becomes harder. Daily life can feel heavier rather than lighter.

When the experience feels worse instead of better
This reaction tends to come as a surprise. People start questioning what happened. Some doubt the medicine itself. Others wonder whether something external interfered with the process, whether they were energetically attacked, affected by dark forces, or left open in a way that made them vulnerable. These interpretations usually appear when there is no clear framework for understanding what is unfolding internally.

In many cases, what has occurred is a destabilization rather than a clear improvement or decline.

What destabilization actually looks like
Psychedelic experiences can loosen internal structures that previously provided coherence. Emotional defenses soften. Identity narratives weaken. Coping strategies that once kept life manageable lose their effectiveness. These structures are often adaptive and protective. When they loosen too quickly, the system enters a period of disorganization.

From the inside, this often feels like things are falling apart.

The loss of defenses and familiar illusions
As these layers weaken, new material comes into awareness. Unprocessed grief, relational wounds, early trauma, and long standing emotional pain become more visible. At the same time, people often become more aware of habitual patterns such as fear responses, shame, avoidance, or self critical thinking. These patterns were present before, but they were buffered by function, distraction, or belief.

This increased clarity does not necessarily feel helpful.

For many, this phase involves a deepening of depressive states. Motivation drops. Meaning thins out. Roles or identities that once gave structure no longer do. Defensive illusions fall away, and life is seen in a more realistic and sometimes harsher way. What feels lost is not only comfort, but orientation.

The role of the nervous system
The nervous system plays a central role here. Emotional and psychological insight can move faster than the body’s capacity to regulate. When too much becomes accessible at once, overwhelm follows. Anxiety, agitation, insomnia, emotional volatility, and persistent rumination are common expressions of this imbalance.

Without context, this strain is often attributed to the medicine itself. People assume something was opened that should not have been, or that the experience caused harm. In many cases, the difficulty lies in the gap between what has been revealed and what can be integrated at that moment.

Fear, projection, and spiritual explanations
As internal reference points loosen, fear tends to increase. Symbolic material is interpreted literally. Internal distress is experienced as external threat. Spiritual explanations fill the space left by the absence of psychological and physiological grounding.

When destabilization becomes clinical
In a smaller number of cases, destabilization progresses further and requires external support. Some people experience persistent derealization or depersonalization, where the world feels distant or unfamiliar. Others develop intense paranoia, pervasive fear, or fixed beliefs about being watched or harmed. Thought processes can become rigid or fragmented. Ongoing sleep disruption often intensifies these states.

At this stage, containment and stabilization become priorities. Professional support can be necessary. Additional ceremonies during this phase often increase strain rather than ease it.

Why more ceremonies often delay integration
A common response to prolonged discomfort is the belief that something remains unfinished and that another ceremony will bring resolution. This conclusion is understandable. In practice, further intensity often delays integration when the system is already overloaded.

What tends to support recovery during this phase is time, regularity, grounding, and a return to basic functioning. Integration unfolds through daily life. Relationships, routines, boundaries, and nervous system regulation become central. Insight alone does not reorganize a destabilized system.

When things fall apart before they fall into place
Healing processes often involve a period where things come apart before they settle into a new configuration. Structures that no longer fit loosen or dissolve. What replaces them does not appear immediately. The interval in between can feel disorienting, discouraging, and lonely.

Feeling worse after a ceremony does not automatically mean something went wrong. In many cases, it reflects a transitional phase in which internal changes are occurring faster than stability can be restored. That phase benefits from patience, integration, and, when needed, external support.

Edit: This story assumes a safe and well-facilitated experience. For a story about recognizing red flags in psychedelic facilitation, see here

For readers who find themselves in a difficult period after a ceremony and feel disoriented or unsupported, I do offer integration support focused on stabilization and grounding. Reaching out is optional, and people are encouraged to seek whatever form of support feels appropriate to their situation.

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