Effects of Naturalistic Psychedelic Use on Depression, Anxiety, and Well-Being: Associations With Patterns of Use, Reported Harms, and Transformative Mental States.

In a large online survey of 2,510 adults who had used psychedelics at least once, psychedelic use was linked to significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and emotional well-being. The benefits grew with more use but showed a ceiling effect; even a single use was associated with improvements. No single psychedelic agent proved clearly superior, but increases in mystical experiences and prosocial perspective-taking were tied to better mental health. However, 13% of participants (330 people) reported at least one harm from psychedelic use, and those individuals experienced less mental health benefit. The findings suggest that naturalistic psychedelic use may offer mental health benefits similar to those in clinical trials, while also posing some risk of harm for a minority.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Survey-based studies suggest naturalistic psychedelic use provides mental health benefits similar to those observed in clinical trials. The current study sought to confirm these findings in a large group of psychedelic users and to conduct a novel examination of associations between amount of psychedelic use and behavioral outcomes, as well as frequency of harms ascribed to psychedelic use. A cross-sectional, online survey was completed by 2,510 adults reporting at least one lifetime psychedelic experience. Participants retrospectively completed a battery of instruments assessing depression, anxiety, and emotional well-being prior to and following psychedelic exposure. Participants also reported preferred psychedelic agent, number of uses, and harms attributed to psychedelic use. Psychedelic use was associated with significant improvements in depressive and anxious symptoms and with increased emotional well-being. These improvements increased in magnitude with increasing psychedelic exposure, with a ceiling effect. However, improvements were noted following a single lifetime use. Strong evidence for benefit of one preferred psychedelic agent over another was not observed, but enduring increases in factors related to mystical-experience and prosocial perspective taking associated with enhanced mental health. Thirteen percent of the survey sample (n = 330) endorsed at least one harm from psychedelic use, and these participants reported less mental health benefit. Results from the current study add to a growing database indicating that psychedelic use-even outside the context of clinical trials-may provide a wide range of mental health benefits, while also posing some risk for harm in a minority of individuals.