Intention-Setting Among Recreational Psychedelic Users: Associated Acute Effects and Changes in Well-Being.

A taxonomy of intentions set by psychedelic users in naturalistic settings is established through a retrospective, mixed-methods, cross-sectional survey. The most common intentions focus on self-discovery, personal growth, healing, and mental health. Intentions related to mental health, self-expansion, and physical health are associated with greater subjective effects—including mystical experiences, emotional breakthroughs, and challenging experiences—as well as improved well-being and reductions in dysfunctional attitudes. Recreational intentions are unrelated to reductions in dysfunctional attitudes and correlate negatively with changes in well-being. Intentions that are specific, relevant, and integrated after the experience correlate with improvements in well-being, while flexible intentions unexpectedly covary with worse outcomes. Specific, relevant, integrated intentions focused on self-discovery and mental health may offer the most benefits.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Limited research suggests that distinct intentions covary with acute experiences and subsequent outcomes. Nevertheless, data on the types of intentions set by users remain scarce, and their effects lack clarity. This study uses a retrospective, mixed-methods, cross-sectional approach to investigate intention-setting among psychedelic users. We establish a taxonomy of intentions in naturalistic use and examine how domain-specific intentions correlate with acute effects and changes in well-being. Additionally, we test qualities for effective intention-setting. The most common intentions focus on self-discovery and personal growth, as well as healing and mental health. Participants reported that intention-setting provided direction and cognitive focus, as well as positive emotional anchoring. Intentions related to mental health, self-expansion, and physical health were associated with greater subjective effects, including mystical experiences, emotional breakthroughs, and challenging experiences, as well as improved well-being and reductions in dysfunctional attitudes. In contrast, recreational intentions were unrelated to reductions in dysfunctional attitudes and correlated negatively with changes in well-being. Finally, intentions that were specific, relevant, and integrated after the psychedelic experience correlated with improvements in well-being. Unexpectedly, flexible intentions covaried with worse outcomes. These data suggest that specific, relevant, integrated intentions focused on self-discovery and mental health might offer the most benefits.