Drug and alcohol review
September 1, 2022
Lukas A Basedow, Sören Kuitunen-Paul
42 citations
People most often use serotonergic psychedelics (hallucinogens) to expand their awareness, such as to increase self-knowledge, promote spiritual development, or satisfy curiosity. This motive appeared in 78% of the 37 studies reviewed, followed by coping (67%) and enhancement (57%). The pattern held across different types of psychedelics, different cultural backgrounds, and both quantitative and qualitative research, with no significant changes from 1967 to 2020. To reduce potential harms, harm-reduction services might offer non-drug ways to fulfill the desire for expanded awareness. Future research should examine motives for specific psychedelics.
Scientific reports
June 26, 2024
Lukas A Basedow, Tomislav Majić, Nicklas Jakob Hafiz et al.
13 citations
A systematic review and meta-analysis examined how psychedelics and MDMA affect cognitive performance during acute drug effects and the sub-acute (afterglow) window. Acute psychedelic use impairs attention and executive function, while MDMA primarily impairs memory, leaving executive functions and attention unaffected. During the sub-acute period (at least 24 hours after acute effects subside), executive functioning and creativity may be increased following psychedelics, but no such effects were observed for MDMA. These findings can inform harm reduction recommendations for recreational use and support differential therapeutic approaches for psychedelics and MDMA.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
April 2, 2025
Simon Reiche, Tim Hirschfeld, Anna Lena Gröticke et al.
5 citations
People who have used psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, or ayahuasca a mild to moderate number of times over their lives show broadly equivalent neuropsychological performance to non-users, but with a modest advantage in executive functions, particularly cognitive flexibility as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). In matched-pair analyses, users performed better on the WCST, and dose-response analyses within the user group found that greater lifetime use was positively associated with fewer total errors, perseverative responses, perseverative errors, non-perseverative errors, and more conceptual level responses. The study did not find any negative associations between sporadic psychedelic use and cognition.