Examining Attitudes to Psilocybin: Should Candidates for Medical Psilocybin be Required to Pass a Contextual Suitability Test?
Journal of Humanistic Psychology – August 18, 2022
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
A compelling finding in clinical psychology reveals that psychological factors significantly predict attitudes toward psilocybin, a potent hallucinogen. Among 219 participants (52.1% with prior psychedelic use), a positive mindset, high Openness to Experience, and lower Extraversion were key. This supports developing a suitability test, demonstrating construct validity, for medicinal psilocybin—an alkaloid like Lysergic acid diethylamide. Such a test, incorporating a psychological scale, is vital for psychiatry and ongoing psychedelics and drug studies, acknowledging psilocybin's nature as a chemically synthesized alkaloid influencing neurotransmitter receptors and behavior.
Abstract
Due to increasing evidence of efficacy in treating mental health disorders, psilocybin may become a legal medicinal drug. This study tested the validity of Carhart-Harris and Nutt’s (2017) model of extra-pharmacological (EP) factors. It examined whether such factors should be considered in any psychological suitability test for medicinally prescribed psilocybin. Two hundred nineteen participants (101 self-identified females, 109 males, seven nonbinary people, and two who preferred not to say), in an age range of 18 to 68 years, completed three online measures of personality— Set, Setting, and Intention—and the Attitudes Toward Psilocybin (ATP) scale. The sample was equally divided between those who had used psychedelics (52.1%) and those who had no previous psychedelic use (47.5%). A series of stepwise linear regressions were run to examine whether EP factors predicted ATP scores. The ATP scale was tested for reliability, construct validity, and determinant validity and was deemed an appropriate measure. A model consisting of a positive Set, Openness to Experience, and lower Extraversion significantly predicted ATP scores. These findings supported the EP model and suggested that a suitability test may be a useful tool when determining whether a prescription of psilocybin is an appropriate course of treatment.