Mystical Experience of Hallucinogenic Drugs may Improve Mental Health

A more mystical and insightful psychedelic drug experience may be linked to an enduring reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, according to a new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Researchers conducted a machine learning analysis of data from nearly 1,000 respondents to a survey about their previous non-clinical experiences with psychedelic drugs.

The analysis suggests that individuals who scored the highest on questionnaires assessing the mystical and insightful nature of their experiences consistently reported improvements in their anxiety and depression symptoms.

It also suggests that a challenging experience while on these substances, one that feels frightening or destabilizing, can have beneficial results, especially in the context of mystical and insightful experiences. This could be helpful for practitioners to know as they guide patients through clinical trials testing psychedelics’ therapeutic potential.

The study is the first to characterize subtypes of the subjective psychedelic experience and link them to mental health outcomes. The data came from previous work Davis led consisting of an anonymous internet-based survey of people who reported having a moderate to strong psychedelic experience in the past and resulting changes to their symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Psychedelic Experiences Breaking the Shackles of Anxiety and Depression

The 985 participants whose responses were analyzed in this study described substances they had used and completed questionnaires evaluating the extent to which their psychedelic experience was mystical (evoking a sense of pure awareness, positive mood, and/or transcendence of time and space that is difficult to describe in words), psychologically insightful (eliciting acute insight into memories, emotions, relationships, behaviors or beliefs), or challenging.

Outcomes assessed in the survey included depression and anxiety symptom levels and ratings of satisfaction with life and psychological flexibility – one’s capacity to act in ways that are consistent with their values regardless of whatever internal or external experience they might have – before and after using the psychedelic.

The sample included users of psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD, Ayahuasca, mescaline, peyote cactus, and 5-MeO-DMT, the natural psychedelic substance in the venom of the Colorado River toad, with the estimated dose level of the single drug use they recalled.

Advertisement

Three distinct subtypes of psychedelic experiences include high-scoring combination of high scores on the mystical and insightful assessments with moderate scores on the challenging assessment.

Low scores with low to moderate scores on mystical and insightful experiences and low scores on the challenging scale. Positive scores with high scores for mystical and insightful experiences and low scores on the challenging assessment.

Advertisement

The group that had the most insightful and mystical experiences and low challenging experiences showed the most benefit in terms of remission of anxiety and depression symptoms and other long-lasting benefits to their life.



Source-Eurekalert