Naturalistic use of psychedelics is related to emotional reactivity and self-consciousness: The mediating role of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences

Apr 27, 2022Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)

Everyday psychedelic use is linked to emotional response and self-awareness, partly through feelings of ego loss and mystical experiences

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Abstract

A higher number of lifetime uses of psychedelics is associated with greater positive and lower negative emotional reactivity.

Regular psychedelic use may promote an adaptive pattern of self-consciousness characterized by increased reflection and self-awareness.
Users may experience reduced tendencies toward rumination and public self-consciousness.
The intensity of past ego-dissolution and mystical experiences could mediate the relationships between psychedelic use and emotional or self-consciousness changes.
These findings suggest a possible link between psychedelics use and improved psychological well-being.

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BACKGROUND: Psychedelics are able to acutely alter emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. However, whether the regular naturalistic use of psychedelics can be linked to more persistent trait-level changes in these domains remains an open question.

AIM: To test the hypotheses that (1) using psychedelics is related to higher positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; and (2) an adaptive pattern of self-consciousness, including diminished public self-consciousness and rumination, and increased reflection and self-awareness; and (3) these relations are mediated by the intensity of past ego-dissolution and mystical experiences.

METHOD: An online survey including questions about the history of psychoactive substance use; questionnaires measuring trait levels of emotional reactivity and self-consciousness; questionnaires for retrospective assessment of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences. Data collected from 2516 participants (1661 psychedelics users) were analyzed using robust linear regression and mediation analysis.

RESULTS: A higher number of lifetime uses of psychedelics predicted greater positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; also, in the domain of self-consciousness, it predicted greater reflection and internal state awareness, and reduced rumination tendency and public self-consciousness. Finally, the intensity of past mystical and ego-dissolution experiences mediated almost all the observed relationships between the lifetime number of psychedelics uses and psychological variables.

CONCLUSIONS: Lifetime psychedelics use predicts an adaptive pattern of trait-level emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. Ego-dissolution and mystical experiences are essential in understanding the long-lasting psychological effects of psychedelics use. Our findings might potentially explain previous observations of increased well-being in psychedelics users.

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Naturalistic use of psychedelics is related to emotional reactivity and self-consciousness: The mediating role of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences

Abstract

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