‘Mystical’ experience using psychedelics may improve mental health, study reveals

LSD and natural psychedelic substance found in the venom of toad among substances used for research

A “mystical” psychedelic drug experience may lead to a reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, according to a new study.

The research, published recently in the Journal of Affective Disorders, is the first to characterise subtypes of psychedelic experiences and link them to mental health outcomes.

Researchers, including those from the Ohio State University in the US, said the findings may help guide patients through clinical trials testing the therapeutic potential of psychedelics .

They analysed data from a survey of nearly 1,000 respondents about their previous non-clinical experiences with psychedelic drugs.

Substances used by the participants included psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, mescaline, peyote cactus and 5-MeO-DMT – the natural psychedelic substance in the venom of the Colorado River toad.

The findings suggested 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.

Scientists assessed the responses of 985 participants who described substances they had used.

The participants completed questionnaires evaluating the extent to which their psychedelic experience was mystical (evoking a sense of pure awareness and positive mood), psychologically insightful (eliciting acute insight into memories) or challenging.

While challenging experiences on these substances may be frightening or destabilising, the study says these can have beneficial results.

Researchers also assessed depression and anxiety symptom levels and ratings of satisfaction with life and psychological flexibility – one’s capacity to act in ways consistent with their values irrespective of internal or external experiences they might have had before and after using the psychedelic.

“The group that had the highest insightful and mystical experiences and low challenging experiences showed the most benefit in terms of remission of anxiety and depression symptoms and other longer lasting benefits to their life,” explained study co-author Aki Nikolaidis.

The same patterns emerged when scientists analysed only data from participants who had used psilocybin and LSD.

“Identifying subtypes that exist regardless of which psychedelic you take answers an interesting question,” Dr Nikolaidis said.

“But the fact that we found that they’re associated with specific outcomes, and replicated that finding, really shows why it’s important to understand the powerful nature of what is happening subjectively and its potential to yield a beneficial outcome,” he said.

Researchers also found that the participants with high scores on mysticism and insight and low scores on challenges tended to be younger than those in the other groups.

A higher proportion of people who had taken large doses of the psychedelic drugs was found among individuals who scored the highest on challenging experiences.

“Finding the variety of other outcomes that these subtypes might be related to is an interesting next step,” said Alan Davis, another author of the study.

“These could include adaptive or functional outcomes in people’s quality of life or well-being, or a better understanding of their life’s purpose or relationships,” Dr Davis added.