Review of General Psychology
May 1, 2017
David Bryce Yaden, Jonathan Haidt, Ralph W. Hood et al.
682 citations
Self-loss is often linked to mental illness, but this review proposes that temporary states of reduced self-focus and heightened connectedness—called self-transcendent experiences (STEs)—may also promote mental health. The authors identify common psychological constructs with a self-transcendent aspect, such as mindfulness, flow, peak experiences, mystical-type experiences, and positive emotions like love and awe. Drawing on literature from social psychology, clinical psychology, and affective neuroscience, they propose psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that might underlie STEs' effects. The review concludes with suggestions for future empirical research to further explore these experiences.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
September 1, 2022
Michiel van Elk, David Bryce Yaden
214 citations
This critical review examines multiple levels of mechanisms behind psychedelics' effects and therapeutic potential. At the biochemical level, they primarily act on 5-HT2A receptors, increase neuroplasticity, open a critical period for social reward learning, and have anti-inflammatory properties. At the neural level, they reduce thalamo-cortical filtering efficacy, loosen top-down predictive signaling, increase sensitivity to bottom-up prediction errors, and activate the claustro-cortical circuit. At the psychological level, they induce altered and affective states, affect cognition, change beliefs, exert social effects, and produce lasting behavioral changes. The authors contrast a potential unifying account with pluralistic causation and propose a research agenda for better understanding causal-mechanistic pathways to enable targeted therapies.
PloS one
January 1, 2024
Marianna Graziosi, Julia Sarah Rohde, Stephanie Lake et al.
6 citations
A short-form version of the AWE-S (AWE-SF) was developed and validated within psychedelic samples to measure awe while reducing participant burden. Across five studies, the original six-factor structure was replicated, and the 12-item AWE-SF showed strong associations with positive emotions and openness to experience. It effectively predicted both mystical-type and challenging psychedelic experiences, as well as long-term well-being outcomes like life satisfaction and psychological richness. Connection and vastness facets were linked to positive emotional states and mystical-type experience, while accommodation and self-loss were linked to negative emotional states and challenging psychedelic experience. The AWE-SF is a robust and reliable tool for measuring awe.
PsyArXiv
June 30, 2022
Sandeep Manel Nayak, Manvir Singh, David Bryce Yaden et al.
4 citations
preprint
A single psychedelic experience can increase non-physicalist beliefs, including dualism, paranormal/spiritual beliefs, and consciousness in both mammals and non-mammals, with medium to large effects. Belief in superstition changed negligibly. The percentage of participants identifying as a believer in a higher power or ultimate reality rose from 29% before the experience to 59% after. Greater mystical experience during the session was linked to larger belief changes. These shifts remained largely stable an average of 8.4 years later.
April 23, 2026
Eli Stark-Elster, Mamosebetsi Sethathi, B. van der Merwe et al.
Traditional use of serotonergic psychedelics has been reliably documented almost exclusively in the Americas, leading to overgeneralizations about their global prevalence. Through semi-structured interviews with 25 Basotho traditional healers and 8 non-healers in Lesotho and South Africa, 15 healers and 6 non-healers independently identified Psilocybe maluti, a recently described psilocybin-producing mushroom endemic to southern Africa. Reported uses include incorporation into a psychoactive initiation brew, treatment of physical, mental, and spiritual ailments, recreation, and magical protection. Unlike the large ritualized doses of Mesoamerican psilocybin use, Basotho healers apply small doses of P. maluti alongside other psychoactive plants, especially Boophone disticha. Multiple lines of evidence suggest these practices predate the mid-twentieth-century popularization of psilocybin, expanding the known geographic scope of traditional psilocybin use and revealing a distinct mode of psychedelic application.