The Psychological Effects of the Administration of Psychedelics on the Minds of Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review

A systematic review of the last three years of literature on classical psychedelics in healthy individuals identified three main themes from four analyzed papers. Participants reported sensing the presence of other entities through intuitive, verbal, or kinesthetic communication. They also described mystical-type experiences involving awe, euphoria, or unpleasant feelings. A third theme captured the inter-relational purposes of these imagined entities, which were perceived as friendly, nurturing, presenting, jestful, manipulating, or formidable. The review considers both short- and long-term effects of these drugs.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The systematic review aims to integrate the findings of the past 3 years of literature on the phenomenological effects of classical psychedelics on healthy individuals. To ensure a strategic method to review the literature was adopted, guidelines given by Sumaya Laher & Tasneem Hassem were opted for (Laher & Hassem, 2020). For the search strategy, the Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research (SPIDER) method was used to construe keywords for searching relevant literature in PubMed, and Google Scholar. Analysis of the final 4 papers was conducted using the thematic synthesis technique (Thomas & Harden, 2008) and a total of 3 main themes were discovered. The first main theme was “Modes of Communication” in which the participants sensed the presence of other entities. This theme is also further divided into three sub-themes called “Intuitive or Telepathic”, “Explicit or Verbal” and “Kinesthetic”. The second major theme is called the “Mystical-type Experiences” in which the participants experienced amazement and were left in complete awe of the world. This theme further divides into two sub-themes “Euphoria” and “Unpleasant Experiences”. The next main theme was “Inter-relational Purposes of Entities”. This theme encompasses the relationship between participants and the psychedelic-induced characters of their imagination divided into four sub-themes in this theme which are named “Friendly and Nurturing”, “Presenting”, “Jestful and Manipulating” and “Formidable and Intimidating.” The study will put the short and long-term effects of these drugs into the consideration of the research community.