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

Abstract

Background. 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 are unclear. Methods. Utilizing a cross-sectional Internet survey, we probed the metaphysical beliefs of participants (N = 701) with experience of classical psychedelics, using a 42-item questionnaire (Core Metaphysical Beliefs, CMB) encompassing a wide range of metaphysical beliefs. Additionally, Non-Physicalist Beliefs (Timmerman et al., 2021) as well as wellbeing/illbeing and past experience of psychedelics were assessed. Results. Factor analysis of CMB revealed two factors, Idealism and Materialism, which had acceptable and good reliability, respectively, and good convergent validity. In network analyses, Idealism was linked to psychological insight in a past psychedelic experience (E = .24) and average use of psychedelics (E = .17), and predicted wellbeing (Es = .12 and .17). Mediation analyses showed an indirect link from past psychedelics use through Idealism to wellbeing (ps ≤ .006). Non-Physicalist Beliefs or Materialism were not significant mediators. Conclusions. Metaphysical beliefs in psychedelic users can be divided into Materialism and Idealism. The latter could correspond to spiritual-type metaphysical ideas. The results indicate that Idealism specifically, not non-physicalist beliefs generally, mediate a link between the use of psychedelics and wellbeing.