Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs

Summary & key facts

Researchers used a large prospective online survey to test whether psychedelic drug use changes people’s metaphysical beliefs. After psychedelic use, people tended to move away from physicalist or materialist views and toward panpsychism and fatalism. Except for fatalism, these shifts lasted for at least 6 months. The shifts were linked to how much people had used psychedelics before and to better mental-health outcomes, and the team found similar patterns in an independent controlled clinical trial. The authors say these results suggest psychedelics may influence metaphysical beliefs, but they note limits and context matter.

Key facts:

• After psychedelic use, participants showed significant shifts away from physicalist or materialist beliefs and toward panpsychism and fatalism.
• With the exception of fatalism, the belief changes persisted for at least 6 months after use.
• The size of the belief shifts was positively correlated with the extent of past psychedelic use.
• The belief changes were also positively correlated with improved mental-health outcomes in the sample.
• Path modelling in the study indicated the shifts were moderated by baseline impressionability and mediated by perceived emotional synchrony with others during the psychedelic experience.
• An independent controlled clinical trial produced data that the authors say consolidated the observational survey findings, leading them to propose psychedelics may causally influence metaphysical beliefs.

Abstract

Can the use of psychedelic drugs induce lasting changes in metaphysical beliefs? While it is popularly believed that they can, this question has never been formally tested. Here we exploited a large sample derived from prospective online surveying to determine whether and how beliefs concerning the nature of reality, consciousness, and free-will, change after psychedelic use. Results revealed significant shifts away from 'physicalist' or 'materialist' views, and towards panpsychism and fatalism, post use. With the exception of fatalism, these changes endured for at least 6 months, and were positively correlated with the extent of past psychedelic-use and improved mental-health outcomes. Path modelling suggested that the belief-shifts were moderated by impressionability at baseline and mediated by perceived emotional synchrony with others during the psychedelic experience. The observed belief-shifts post-psychedelic-use were consolidated by data from an independent controlled clinical trial. Together, these findings imply that psychedelic-use may causally influence metaphysical beliefs-shifting them away from 'hard materialism'. We discuss whether these apparent effects are contextually independent.

Topics

Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques Chemical synthesis and alkaloids Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Altered state Alternative medicine Consciousness Epistemology Extrasensory perception Fatalism Materialism Medicine Metaphysics Paranormal Parapsychology Pathology Philosophy Physicalism Psychology Social psychology