Exploring the potential psychological predictors associated with changes in depression, anxiety, and well-being following naturalistic psychedelic use.
Journal of psychiatric research – November 01, 2025
Source: PubMed
Summary
While psychedelics show promise for mental health, understanding *how* they work psychologically is key. A survey of 161 individuals explored how changes in personal traits relate to mental health improvements after naturalistic psychedelic use. Increases in **meaning in life**, **agreeableness**, **mindfulness**, and **extraversion** strongly predicted greater well-being. Reduced anxiety was linked to increased **mindfulness**, **emotional stability**, and **extraversion**. Higher **self-esteem** was most associated with decreased depression. Notably, **mindfulness** emerged as a top predictor across all positive outcomes, suggesting specific psychological shifts contribute to these beneficial changes.
Abstract
Although research shows that psychedelic use may lead to improvement in mental health and well-being, the underlying changes in psychological predictors associated with these improvements remain unclear. 161 participants were recruited in a prospective online survey assessing naturalistic psychedelic use. We used lasso regression to assess how 19 distinct changes in psychological variables (e.g., meaning in life, mindfulness) were linked to future changes in depression, anxiety, and well-being changes. We found increases in meaning in life (β = 0.229, 95 % CI [0.101, 0.357], p < 0.01), agreeableness (β = 0.193, [0.077, 0.361], p < 0.05), mindfulness (β = 0.174, [0.022, 0.383], p < 0.05), and extraversion (β = 0.135, [0.002, 0.246], p = 0.046) to be the variables most strongly associated with future increases in well-being. Increases in mindfulness (β = -0.347, [-0.481, -0.220], p < 0.001), emotional stability (β = -0.158, [-0.279, -0.020], p < 0.05), and extraversion (β = -0.147, [0.022, 0.383], p < 0.05) were the most strongly associated with future decreases in anxiety. Lastly, increases in self-esteem (β = -0.216, [-0.365, -0.056], p < 0.05) were most strongly associated with changes in depression. Changes in mindfulness and emotional stability were also associated with depression; however, they were not significant. Mindfulness was the sole predictor that ranked within the top three across all outcomes. These findings suggest that these differing predictors may underpin the observed psychological improvements following naturalistic psychedelic use.