Negative psychological responses to psychedelics lasting more than 72 hours are real and can include new psychiatric diagnoses or worsened symptoms. In a sample of 32 individuals who completed an online questionnaire, 37.5% received a new psychiatric diagnosis after their psychedelic experience, and 87% experienced anxiety symptoms. Deeper interviews with 15 of the most severe cases revealed potential causes: unsafe environments, unpleasant acute experiences, prior psychological vulnerabilities, high or unknown drug doses, and young age. The findings cannot estimate how common such harms are due to the small, selective sample and study design focused only on negative outcomes.
Negative psychological responses to psychedelics, lasting at least 72 hours, are real and can include new psychiatric diagnoses or worsened symptoms, particularly anxiety. In a sample of 32 individuals who reported such experiences, 37.5% received a new psychiatric diagnosis after psychedelic use, and 87% experienced new or worsened anxiety. In-depth interviews with 15 of the most severe cases suggested that contributing factors include unsafe environments, unpleasant acute experiences, prior psychological vulnerabilities, high or unknown drug doses, and young age. The study's small, self-selected sample means these findings cannot estimate how common such harms are.