Major life changes following psychedelic use: A retrospective survey among people using psychedelics naturalistically
Jacob S. Aday, Nicolas G. Glynos, Anne K. Baker, Niloufar Pouyan, Tristin Smith, Julie Barron, Moss Herberholz, Daniel J. Kruger, Joshua D. Woolley, Kevin F. Boehnke
Scientific Reports April 15, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-48084-3 via Springer Nature
Summary
A survey of 581 individuals who used psychedelics revealed that 82.96% reported experiencing at least one major life change due to their psychedelic use, averaging 3.29 changes per person. Common changes included shifts in goals (53.70%), values (53.53%), and spirituality (49.05%). Major life changes were generally viewed positively, with an average rating of 4.64 out of 5. Women were more likely to report these changes than men, while older age and higher education correlated with fewer reported changes.
Study at a glance
| Design | survey |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 581 |
| Population | individuals reporting naturalistic psychedelic use |
| Key finding | 82.96% of participants reported at least one major life change influenced by their psychedelic use. |
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs show promise in facilitating a variety of long-term psychological changes, but they may also lead to unexpected major life changes that have not been captured by measures typically used in clinical trials. The Psychedelic-related Major Life Changes Questionnaire ( P-MLCQ ) was created to assess psychedelic-related major life changes across 10 different domains and evaluated in a sample reporting naturalistic psychedelic use ( N = 581). 482/581 participants (82.96%) reported at least one major life change influenced by their psychedelic use ( M = 3.29, SD = 2.60), including changes in Goals (53.70%), Values (53.53%), Religion/spirituality (49.05%), Social activities (37.01%), Eating habits/diet (34.08%), Occupation/Line of work (32.36%), Hobbies (29.43%), Political views (14.97%), Sexuality (13.08%), and Marital status/non-marital partner change (12.22%). Major life changes were rated highly positively ( M = 4.64, SD = 0.61 on a 5-point scale). There was a positive relationship between frequency of psychedelic use over the last five years and total number of psychedelic-related major life changes ( r = 0.34, p < 0.001). Women were 21% more likely than men to report major life changes, whereas age and education-level were negatively related to major life changes. Although our results support that psychedelic use can be followed by major life changes, future research is needed to examine the generalizability of these results in representative samples that are less susceptible to positive bias.