Psychedelics can cause profound changes in cognition, emotion, and perception, but the intensity of these effects varies widely. A cross-sectional online survey of 862 psychedelics users (701 had used LSD and 553 had used psilocybin mushrooms) examined how internal and external contextual factors relate to the intensity of ego dissolution. Those who used psychedelics for spiritual or self-healing purposes reported more intense ego dissolution, while those motivated by curiosity reported less intense experiences. The social context and physical environment were not strongly linked to the reported intensity. This suggests that internal mindset, rather than external setting, may be more influential in naturalistic use.
Long-term naturalistic psychedelic users who had abstained for at least 30 days showed largely no significant differences in brain oscillatory power, signal complexity, or network connectivity compared to non-users, contrary to patterns seen in acute administration studies. Complexity was unexpectedly lower in users during eyes-open conditions. Effective connectivity within and between key brain networks (Default Mode, Salience, Central Executive) showed no group differences after correction. These null findings suggest that repeated psychedelic use may not produce lasting neurophysiological changes detectable in resting-state EEG during abstinence, possibly due to homeostatic adaptation or individual variability.