Reduced death anxiety as a mediator of the relationship between acute subjective effects of psychedelics and improved subjective well-being
Death Studies February 2, 2023 Sam G. Moreton, Andrew Arena, Yolanda Foy et al. 19 citations
A meaningful psychedelic experience can reduce death anxiety, and that reduction appears to help explain improvements in satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect. In a survey of 201 participants who recalled a meaningful psychedelic experience, reductions in death anxiety mediated the link between mystical experience and these well-being measures, but did not mediate effects of psychological insight. The findings are correlational and do not establish causation, but they suggest that decreased death anxiety may be one mechanism through which psychedelic-induced mystical experiences boost subjective well-being.