Attitudes Towards Psilocybin: A General Population’s Opinions on Psilocybin and Psilocybin-Assisted Therapies

Attitudes toward psilocybin-assisted therapies (PAT) are generally positive, but vary by demographic group. Men, Democrats, and atheists tend to hold more favorable views, though these differences may stem from sampling sources like Amazon's Mechanical Turk. People with prior knowledge of psilocybin or previous psychedelic experience also report more positive attitudes. The findings highlight which groups may be more receptive to PAT as it gains mainstream consideration.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Psilocybin-assisted therapies (PAT) have been used to treat several issues including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), major depressive disorder (MDD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), smoking addiction, and anxiety (Grob et al., 2011; Johnson et al., 2014; Kisely et a., 2022; Moreno et al., 2006). If more positive benefits of psilocybin are discovered, psilocybin could become a more mainstream treatment option. Due to this possibility, it is important to understand people’s beliefs about psilocybin and PAT. This descriptive study was conducted to understand the relationship between demographic characteristics and attitudes toward psilocybin and PAT. An anonymous Qualtrics survey was utilized to collect responses from 235 participants. Participants responded to questions regarding demographics, knowledge of psilocybin, previous experience with psychedelics, and attitudes toward PAT. Overall, attitudes towards PAT were relatively positive, but there were some notable differences among groups. Those with more positive attitudes were more likely to be men, democrats, and atheists. However, these differences may be related to sampling sources (e.g., Amazon’s Mechanical Turk). Furthermore, participants with prior knowledge of psilocybin and previous experience with psychedelics had more positive attitudes toward PAT. These findings provide relevant information on what groups may be more open to PAT.