Naturalistic use of psychedelics is related to emotional reactivity and self-consciousness: the mediating role of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences
Paweł Orlowski, Anastasia Ruban, Jan Szczypiński, Justyna Hobot, Maksymilian Bielecki, Michał Bola
Arabixiv (OSF Preprints) September 23, 2021 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/k4xfg
Summary
Regular psychedelic use appears linked to enduring psychological shifts. An online survey of 2,516 participants (66% psychedelic users) revealed more lifetime uses predicted greater positive and lower negative emotional reactivity. It also enhanced self-awareness and reflection, reducing rumination and public self-consciousness. Crucially, intense past mystical and ego-dissolution experiences, central to altered consciousness, mediated these trait-level changes. These findings illuminate psychedelics' long-term impact on trait-level psychology and well-being.
Abstract
Background: Psychedelics are able to acutely alter emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. However, whether the regular naturalistic use of psychedelics can be linked to more persistent trait-level changes in these domains remains an open question.\nAim: To test the hypotheses that i) using psychedelics is related to higher positive and lower negative emotional reactivity and ii) an adaptive pattern of self-consciousness, including diminished public self-consciousness and rumination, and increased reflection and self-awareness, and iii) these relations are mediated by the intensity of past ego-dissolution and mystical experiences.\nMethod: An online survey including questions about the history of psychoactive substance use; questionnaires measuring trait-levels of emotional reactivity and self-consciousness; questionnaires for retrospective assessment of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences. Data collected from 2,516 participants (1,661 psychedelics users) were analyzed using robust linear regression and mediation analysis.\nResults: A higher number of lifetime uses of psychedelics predicted greater positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; also, in the domain of self-consciousness, it predicted greater reflection and internal state awareness, and reduced rumination tendency and public self-consciousness. Finally, the intensity of past mystical and ego-dissolution experiences mediated almost all the observed relationships between the lifetime number of psychedelics uses and psychological variables. \nConclusions: Lifetime psychedelics use predicts an adaptive pattern of trait-level emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. Ego-dissolution and mystical experiences are essential in understanding the long-lasting psychological effects of psychedelics use. Our findings might potentially explain previous observations of increased well-being in psychedelics users.