Belief changes associated with psychedelic use

Abstract

Background: Psychedelic use is anecdotally associated with belief changes, although few studies have tested these claims. Aim: Characterize a broad range of psychedelic occasioned belief changes. Survey: A survey was conducted in 2374 respondents who endorsed having had a belief changing psychedelic experience. Participants rated their agreement with belief statements Before and After the psychedelic experience as well as at the time of survey administration. Results: Factor analysis of 45 belief statements revealed five factors: “Dualism,” “Paranormal/Spirituality,” “Non-mammal consciousness,” “Mammal consciousness,” and “Superstition.” Medium to large effect sizes from Before to After the experience were observed for increases in beliefs in “Dualism” (β = 0.72), “Paranormal/Spirituality” (β = 0.90), “Non-mammal consciousness” (β = 0.72), and “Mammal consciousness” (β = 0.74). In contrast, negligible changes were observed for “Superstition” (β = −0.18).). At the individual item level, increases in non-physicalist beliefs included belief in reincarnation, communication with the dead, existence of consciousness after death, telepathy, and consciousness of inanimate natural objects (e.g., rocks). The percentage of participants who identified as a “Believer (e.g., in Ultimate Reality, Higher Power, and/or God, etc.)” increased from 29% Before to 59% After.” At both the factor and individual item level, higher ratings of mystical experience were associated with greater changes in beliefs. Belief changes assessed after the experience (an average 8.4 years) remained largely unchanged at the time of survey. Conclusions: A single psychedelic experience increased a range of non-physicalist beliefs as well as beliefs about consciousness, meaning, and purpose. Further, the magnitude of belief change is associated with qualitative features of the experience.

Perceptions of psychedelic use by adults in the United States: Perceived psychospiritual benefits and risks, including spiritual struggles.

“…Some see psychedelics as a doorway to higher consciousness, other domains of reality, or a “true self” that exists beyond the material plane (Exline, Schutt, et al, 2023; Exline, Wilt, et al, 2023). Other studies show that psychedelic users often report increases in paranormal or spiritual beliefs (Nayak et al, 2023), dualism (belief in both physical and nonphysical realities; Nayak et al, 2023; Timmermann et al, 2021), and panpsychism (belief that consciousness, mind, or soul is a fundamental quality of all things, animate and inanimate; Nayak et al, 2023; Timmermann et al, 2021).…”

The Metaphysics Matrix Questionnaire: the development of an accessible measure of belief change for the general population

“…There are longstanding anecdotal reports of people shifting their metaphysical beliefs following experiences of non-ordinary states of consciousness, trauma, or organic brain damage, resulting in prolonged alterations in personality, behaviour, and wellbeing 15,16,17,18,19 . There is also more recent evidence emerging from experimental designs, both quantitative and qualitative in nature, to support this idea 15,20,17,19,21,22,23,24 . Several key phenomenological aspects of non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by things such as meditation, breathwork, or psychedelics, are believed to be particularly conducive to generating shifts in people's beliefs, such as: awe, oceanic boundlessness, transcendence of time and space, unity, ego-dissolution, entityencounters, and encounters with the divine 24,25,20,10,19,23 .…”

“…There is also more recent evidence emerging from experimental designs, both quantitative and qualitative in nature, to support this idea 15,20,17,19,21,22,23,24 . Several key phenomenological aspects of non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by things such as meditation, breathwork, or psychedelics, are believed to be particularly conducive to generating shifts in people's beliefs, such as: awe, oceanic boundlessness, transcendence of time and space, unity, ego-dissolution, entityencounters, and encounters with the divine 24,25,20,10,19,23 . These phenomenological accounts are further paralleled by corresponding physiological accounts theorizing that following the experience of awe (either positive or negative), the brain enters a highly entropic 'hyper-plastic' state wherein the constraints imposed by prior information processing systems (underpinning prior beliefs) are relaxed, allowing for a re-weighting of previous connections as well as novel connections to be formed, at both a synaptic, and network (pertaining to higher cognitive processes) level of abstraction 26,27,28,23 -thus providing a complementary physiological candidate process for metaphysical belief shifts.…”

“…Only a small handful of surveys exist that seek to tap directly into the metaphysical beliefs held by an individual 24,22,11,29,30,31 . For the most part they are rather limited in scope (perhaps necessarily so) to a speci c sub-topic (free-will, spirituality, mind-body relations, mystical experiences, etc.…”

Cultivation, chemistry, and genome ofPsilocybe zapotecorum

“…Although it is not well understood how each of these perceptual changes arise, brain imaging scans indicate the importance of the default mode network in decreasing typical or repetitive circuitry, allowing new connections to form. 31 There may also be changes in feeling states or perspectives marked by immense laughter, comfort, profound insight, and sensations of love and connection. 32–34 These experiences can have lasting impacts on life perspectives, beliefs and feelings of well-being and have been shown to treat depression, anxiety including end of life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol use disorder among others.…”