Endorsement of metaphysical idealism mediates a link between past use of psychedelics and wellbeing

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

It has been proposed that psychedelics promote wellbeing through spiritual-type transformations, involving changes in metaphysical beliefs. Past empirical research shows a link between the use of psychedelics and the endorsement of non-physicalist metaphysical beliefs. However, non-physicalist beliefs encompass a wide range of metaphysical ideas, and their links to wellbeing and psychedelics use remain unclear. We utilized a cross-sectional Internet survey to probe the metaphysical beliefs of participants (N = 701) with past experience of classical psychedelics, using a novel 42-item questionnaire (Core Metaphysical Beliefs, CMB), encompassing a wide range of metaphysical beliefs. Factor analysis of CMB revealed two factors, Idealism and Materialism. In network analyses, Idealism was linked to psychological insight in a past psychedelic experience (E = 0.24) and average use of psychedelics (E = 0.16), and predicted wellbeing (Es = 0.13 and 0.22). Mediation analyses showed an indirect link from past psychedelics use through Idealism to wellbeing (ps ≤ .005). Non-Physicalist Beliefs or Materialism were not significant mediators. The results indicate that Idealism specifically, not non-physicalist beliefs generally, mediate a link between the use of psychedelics and wellbeing. Future research is required to establish whether the link is causal, and to understand what the Idealism factor means.