Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
January 21, 2020
Matthias Forstmann, Daniel Alexander Yudkin, Annayah Miranda Beatrice Prosser et al.
185 citations
Using psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin is linked to improved mood and stronger feelings of social connectedness in naturalistic settings. Across six multiday mass gatherings in the United States and the United Kingdom, over 1,200 participants were studied. Those who had taken psychedelics reported higher positive mood, an effect that occurred sequentially through transformative experiences and then increased social connectedness. The association was strongest for people who had used psychedelics within the previous 24 hours compared to the past week. The findings provide robust evidence that psychedelic use can have positive affective and social consequences in real-world contexts.
Journal of Psychopharmacology
June 20, 2017
Matthias Forstmann, Christina Sagioglou
153 citations
People who have used classic psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline report more pro-environmental behaviors such as recycling and saving water. This relationship is explained by a stronger self-identification with nature, even after controlling for other drug use and personality traits like openness and conscientiousness. The findings suggest that lifetime psychedelic experience may contribute to environmental behavior by incorporating the natural world into one's self-concept, pointing to a possible societal benefit of these substances.
Public Understanding of Science
December 25, 2020
Matthias Forstmann, Christina Sagioglou
44 citations
Across three studies with 952 total participants, admitting personal use of psychedelics lowered people's ratings of a researcher's integrity—how unbiased, professional, and honest they seemed—but did not affect judgments of the research's quality or value. However, when a researcher presented at a conference with social activities stereotypically linked to psychedelic culture, participants rated the research itself as less valid, true, and unbiased. This negative effect on perceived research quality occurred only among participants who had never used psychedelics themselves.
Journal of Psychopharmacology
January 1, 2023
Matthias Forstmann, Christina Sagioglou, Alexander Irvine et al.
18 citations
Among people who have used psychedelics, only past use of psilocybin—not LSD, mescaline, Salvia divinorum, ketamine, ibogaine, or DMT—reliably predicted a stronger sense of connection to nature (nature relatedness). The finding held even when people who had never used psychedelics were included in the analysis. For those who had used only psilocybin, more frequent use was linked to higher nature relatedness. This suggests that psilocybin may have a unique association with nature relatedness, possibly due to its pharmacology or the contexts in which it is used.
Drug Science Policy and Law
January 1, 2022
Christina Sagioglou, Matthias Forstmann
12 citations
People who have used psychedelic substances, especially psilocybin, show greater objective knowledge about climate change and more concern about it, partly because they feel more connected to nature. An online survey of 641 international participants assessed lifetime use of 30 psychoactive substances and three pro-environmental measures: nature relatedness, climate change concern, and objective climate knowledge. After controlling for age, education, and other substance use, psychedelic use directly predicted climate knowledge and indirectly predicted both knowledge and concern through nature relatedness. These findings indicate that the link between psychedelics and pro-environmental attitudes is not merely due to bias or stereotypes.
Current opinion in psychology
April 1, 2025
Matthias Forstmann, Christina Sagioglou
11 citations
Psychedelics may increase feelings of connectedness to both nature and other people. This review synthesizes evidence that these substances facilitate self-expansion through ego dissolution, which temporarily alters self-boundaries, and enhanced emotional processing, which increases empathic concern. The authors propose a multidimensional model of connectedness distinguishing perceptual, emotional, and epistemic domains, each showing distinct patterns in acute and enduring effects. Interpretation is complicated by methodological challenges including functional unblinding, reliance on self-reports, and small sample sizes. Future research would benefit from behavioral measures, active placebos, and careful consideration of contextual factors.
European Psychologist
September 17, 2021
Matthias Forstmann, Christina Sagioglou
6 citations
After decades of stagnation, research on psychedelic substances such as LSD, psilocybin, and DMT has revived over the last 10 years, with major programs in Europe and the United States. This review summarizes recent insights into the history, objective and subjective effects, prevalence, socio-psychological correlates, and potential for harm of psychedelics. It covers empirical research on their efficacy in treating major depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, along with proposed neural and cognitive mechanisms. It also reviews effects on healthy subjects, including psychological well-being, personality changes, nature-relatedness, and creativity, and discusses long-term effects of single experiences.
Consciousness and cognition
January 1, 2026
Matthias Forstmann, Pascal Burgmer
A new 24-item questionnaire, the Nature of Mind Scale (NOMS), reliably measures eight distinct philosophical views about the relationship between mind and body, including substance dualism, interactionism, panpsychism, idealism, reductive and non-reductive physicalism, mystical monism, and neutral monism. Across four studies with 1,074 participants, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the eight-factor structure. Participants most strongly endorsed interactionism, non-reductive physicalism, and mystical monism, and least supported idealism. The scale showed good model fit, measurement invariance, and convergent validity with existing measures. Construct validity was supported by expected links with religiosity, free will beliefs, cognitive style, personality, and afterlife beliefs.