Journal of affective disordersJan 27, 2024

Long-term links between psychedelic use and psychotic symptoms in the US and UK

Psychedelic Science Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 1, 2026

Abstract

A sample of 9,732 adults revealed that psychedelic use is associated with changes in psychotic symptoms depending on personal or family history of bipolar and psychotic disorders.

Psychedelic use was not linked to a change in psychotic symptoms for the general population.
In individuals with a family history of bipolar disorder, psychedelic use was associated with an increase in psychotic symptoms.
In individuals with a personal history of psychotic disorders, psychedelic use was associated with a decrease in psychotic symptoms.
These findings suggest that the impact of psychedelics on psychotic symptoms may vary based on individual and familial mental health histories.

Simplified

It has long been speculated that psychedelic use could provoke the onset of psychosis, but there is little evidence to support this conjecture. Using a longitudinal research design with samples representative of the US and UK adult populations with regard to sex, age, and ethnicity (n = 9732), we investigated associations between psychedelic use and change in the number of psychotic symptoms during the two-month study period. In covariate-adjusted regression models, psychedelic use during the study period was not associated with a change in the number of psychotic symptoms unless it interacted with a personal or family history of bipolar disorder, in which case the number of symptoms increased, or with a personal (but not family) history of psychotic disorders, in which case the number of symptoms decreased. Taken together, these findings indicate that psychedelic use may affect psychotic symptoms in individuals with a personal or family history of certain disorders characterized by psychotic symptomatology.

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Competing interests

Declaration of competing interest PSH has been in paid advisory relationships with the following organizations regarding the development of psychedelics and related compounds: Bright Minds Biosciences Ltd., Eleusis Benefit Corporation, Journey Colab Corporation, Reset Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Silo Pharma. OS was a co-founder of Eudelics AB. Alexander Lebedev is a co-founder of Katharsis Journeys AB.

PubMed

Long-term links between psychedelic use and psychotic symptoms in the US and UK

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

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Abstract

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Funding

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