Scientific Reports
June 10, 2024
Jussi Jylkkä, Andreas Krabbe, Patrick Jern
11 citations
A cross-sectional internet survey of 701 people who had used classical psychedelics probed their metaphysical beliefs with a new 42-item questionnaire. Factor analysis revealed two main belief clusters: Idealism and Materialism. Idealism was linked to psychological insight from a past psychedelic experience and to average psychedelic use, and it predicted wellbeing. Mediation analyses showed an indirect path from past psychedelic use through Idealism to wellbeing, but not through non-physicalist beliefs generally or through Materialism. The findings suggest that Idealism specifically, rather than non-physicalist beliefs broadly, may mediate the association between psychedelic use and wellbeing, though causality remains unestablished.
Sci Rep
October 16, 2024
Andreas Krabbe, Pilleriin Sikka, Jussi Jylkkä
9 citations
Psychological flexibility—the ability to adapt thoughts and behaviors to changing circumstances—may explain why psychedelic experiences can improve mental well-being. In a cross-sectional internet survey of 629 people who had used classical psychedelics, network analysis showed that the depth of psychological insight during a single psychedelic experience, rather than how often someone had used psychedelics, was linked to the psychological flexibility component of Acceptance. Mediation analyses indicated that psychological flexibility mediated the relationship between past psychedelic use and both well-being and ill-being. The findings suggest that the quality of the psychedelic experience, especially fostering acceptance, is more important than frequency of use for long-term mental health benefits.
Conscious Cogn
July 7, 2025
Jussi Jylkkä, Hilla Väyrynen, Enyu Lin et al.
3 citations
Meditation and psychedelics both foster mystical, psychological, and philosophical-existential insights that predict wellbeing. A qualitative-quantitative study found that these insights, whether from meditation or controlled psychedelic use, are associated with positive shifts in personal wellbeing. The authors suggest that the types of insights from both practices overlap and can profoundly benefit individuals, leading to enhanced wellbeing and personal transformation.
Consciousness and Cognition
December 15, 2025
Andreas Krabbe, Pilleriin Sikka, Jussi Jylkkä
Meditation practice may enhance the benefits of psychedelic experiences and can confound associations between psychedelic use and well-being. In two cross-sectional online surveys, when examined separately, both cumulative psychedelic use and meditation practice were associated with greater well-being and psychological flexibility. However, when considered jointly, the associations for psychedelics were reduced or became nonsignificant, while meditation remained consistently associated with outcomes. In a second study, participants who experienced a personally meaningful event through meditation alone or combined with psychedelics reported significantly greater improvements in well-being compared with those who used psychedelics alone, though all groups showed positive change on average. Weak evidence suggested a potential synergy between the two practices.
March 30, 2023
Jussi Jylkkä, Aleksi Hupli, Aleksandra Nikolaeva et al.
preprint
Medical cannabis and opioids are perceived as equally effective at reducing pain intensity, but medical cannabis additionally improves emotion, functionality, and overall sense of wellbeing. A survey of Finnish chronic pain patients compared 40 medical cannabis users with 161 opioid users. After matching for confounding factors, medical cannabis users scored higher on positive emotional effects (large effect) and holistic positive effects (medium effect), with no difference in negative side effects. This supports the idea that medical cannabis alters the pain experience more holistically rather than only targeting pain intensity.
Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2024
Dmitri Filimonov, Andreas Krabbe, Antti Revonsuo et al.
Aware auditory experiences are linked to a specific brain signal, the auditory awareness negativity (AAN), which remains unchanged whether listeners pay attention to sounds or must respond to them. In contrast, a later brain signal, the late positivity (LP), is influenced by both attention and the requirement to respond. These findings suggest that AAN is a genuine neural correlate of auditory consciousness, while LP reflects higher-level processing that may depend on a global workspace.