Examining attitudes to psilocybin: Should candidates for medical psilocybin be required to pass a contextual suitability test
Mark Molumby, Keith Gaynor, Suzanne Guérin
November 23, 2021 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/6f9qp via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA model of extra-pharmacological factors—set, setting, and intention—predicts attitudes toward psilocybin, supporting the idea that a psychological suitability test could help determine whether psilocybin is an appropriate treatment. In 219 adults, openness to experience, extraversion, and set significantly predicted scores on the Attitudes Towards Psilocybin scale, which showed good reliability and validity. The sample was evenly split between those with and without prior psychedelic use. The findings suggest that non-drug factors matter for medicinal psilocybin decisions.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 219 |
| Population | Adults aged 18 to 68, including those with and without prior psychedelic use |
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Hallucinogen Openness to experience Clinical psychology Test biology |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key finding | A model of set, openness to experience, and extraversion significantly predicted attitudes toward psilocybin, supporting the extra-pharmacological model. |
Abstract
Background: Due to increasing evidence of efficacy in treating mental health disorders, psilocybin may become a legal medicinal drug. This study tested the validity of Carhart-Harris & Nutt (2017) model of extra-pharmacological (EP) factors and examined whether such factors should be taken into account in any psychological suitability test for medicinally prescribed psilocybin. Method: 219 participants (101 self-identified females, 109 males, 7 non-binary people and 2 who preferred not to say), with an age range of 18 to 68, completed three online measures of ‘personality’; ‘set, setting and intention’, and the ‘Attitudes Towards Psilocybin’ (ATP) scale. The sample was equally divided between those who had used psychedelics (52.1%) and those who had no previous psychedelic use (47.5%). A series of stepwise linear regressions were run to examine of extra-pharmcological factor predictors of ATP. Results: The ATP scale was tested in terms of its reliability, construct validity, determinant validity and was deemed an appropriate measure. A model consisting of Set, Openness to Experience and Extraversion significantly predicted ATP scores. Conclusion: These findings supported the EP model and suggest that a suitability test may be a useful tool when determining whether a prescription of psilocybin is an appropriate course of treatment.