Association between lifetime hallucinogen use and psychological distress varies by sexual identity in a nationally representative sample
Journal of Psychopharmacology September 23, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1177/02698811241278774 via OpenAlex
Summary
Psychedelic use was linked to lower odds of psychological distress among heterosexual individuals, with an odds ratio of 0.76. In a large sample of over 253 million U.S. adults, most participants were heterosexual and reported no severe psychological distress in the past month. However, hallucinogen use did not show significant protective effects for sexual minority populations. This highlights the need for further investigation into the mental health impacts of psychedelics across different sexual identities.
Study at a glance
| Design | cross-sectional analysis |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 253,824,662 |
| Population | U.S. adults |
| Key finding | Hallucinogen use was associated with reduced odds of psychological distress in heterosexual individuals but not in sexual minority groups. |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials demonstrate that psychedelic-assisted therapy can improve mental health outcomes; however, few studies have recruited sexually diverse samples or reported information on sexual identity. AIMS: The purpose of this analysis was to examine the relationship between hallucinogen use and mental health outcomes with respect to sexual identity. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine the relationship between hallucinogen use and psychological distress. RESULTS: In a sample representative of 253,824,662 U.S. adults, the majority was heterosexual (92%), aged 50-64 (25%), women (51%), non-Hispanic White (62%), college educated (31%), and had an annual household income of $75,000 or higher (39%). The majority reported no lifetime hallucinogen use (82%) and no past month severe psychological distress (93%). Sexual identity modified the relationship between hallucinogen use and psychological distress. After stratifying by sexual identity and adjusting for covariates, hallucinogen use was associated with reduced odds of psychological distress in the heterosexual population (OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59, 0.96) but the relationship was not significant in the sexual minority population. CONCLUSION: We found that in a nationally representative sample, psychedelic use was associated with reduced odds of psychological distress in heterosexual individuals only. Future research should investigate why hallucinogen use was not protective in sexual minority groups given their disproportionate burden of poor mental health outcomes.