From Egoism to Ecoism: Psychedelics Increase Nature Relatedness in a State-Mediated and Context-Dependent Manner

Abstract

(1) Background: There appears to be a growing disconnection between humans and their natural environments which has been linked to poor mental health and ecological destruction. Previous research suggests that individual levels of nature relatedness can be increased through the use of classical psychedelic compounds, although a causal link between psychedelic use and nature relatedness has not yet been established. (2) Methods: Using correlations and generalized linear mixed regression modelling, we investigated the association between psychedelic use and nature relatedness in a prospective online study. Individuals planning to use a psychedelic received questionnaires 1 week before (N = 654), plus one day, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 years after a psychedelic experience. (3) Results: The frequency of lifetime psychedelic use was positively correlated with nature relatedness at baseline. Nature relatedness was significantly increased 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 2 years after the psychedelic experience. This increase was positively correlated with concomitant increases in psychological well-being and was dependent on the extent of ego-dissolution and the perceived influence of natural surroundings during the acute psychedelic state. (4) Conclusions: The here presented evidence for a context- and state-dependent causal effect of psychedelic use on nature relatedness bears relevance for psychedelic treatment models in mental health and, in the face of the current ecological crisis, planetary health.

The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health

“…Ego-dissolution and the (arguably mutually dependent) unitive experience may be central to the experiences of increased interconnectedness that can occur. Ego-dissolution has been described as ‘a disruption of ego-boundaries, which results in a blurring of the distinction between self-representation and object-representation’ ( Nour et al, 2016 ) and is strongly associated with nature relatedness, both retrospectively ( Nour et al, 2017 ) and prospectively ( Kettner et al, 2019 ) suggesting this relationship is causative, rather than merely correlative. This dissolution of boundaries is reliably occasioned by psychedelics, and may result in feelings of unity and oneness with nature ( Grob, 2002 ; Grof, 1980 ) and the universe ( Riba et al, 2001 ).…”

“…Awe walks in natural settings post psychedelic experience may be beneficial, helping consolidate any feelings of awe which may persist beyond the psychedelic session ( Noorani et al, 2018 ). Such a practice may also help consolidate feelings of connectedness present post psychedelic session ( Carhart-Harris et al, 2018b ; Forstmann et al, 2020 ; Kettner et al., 2019 ; Noorani et al, 2018 ; Watts et al., 2017 ), as an increased acknowledgement of nature has been implicated in increasing connectedness in a broad sense ( Passmore and Holder, 2017 ), and awe and connectedness appear to be strongly linked ( Bethelmy and Corraliza, 2019 ; Nelson-Coffey et al, 2019 ; van Mulukom et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Research suggests that experiences with classical or serotonergic psychedelic compounds (acting as agonists at the serotonin 5-HT 2A receptor) ( Carhart-Harris et al., 2014 ; Glennon et al, 1984 ; Nichols, 2016 ) can foster sustained increases in nature relatedness ( Forstmann and Sagioglou, 2017 ; Kettner et al, 2019 ; Lyons and Carhart-Harris, 2018 ) and appreciation for and contact with nature ( Doblin, 1991 ; Luke, 2017 ; Kangaslampi et al, 2020 ; Noorani et al, 2018 ; Studerus et al, 2011 ; Watts et al, 2017 ). Furthermore, access to nature-based settings during psychedelic sessions predicts positive changes in nature relatedness ( Kettner et al, 2019 ). An increase in nature relatedness likely occurs through a number of different mechanisms, such as through increased mindfulness-related capacities, connectedness, openness to experience and eliciting strong emotional states (for a review see Aday et al, 2020 ).…”

“…It is a stable state of consciousness, that is experiential, emotional and highly personal, rather than rational or deliberation-based (Lumber et al, 2017;Nisbet et al, 2009;Nisbet and Zelenski, 2013;Richardson and Sheffield, 2017;Wright and Matthews, 2015;Zylstra et al, 2014). Nature relatedness is considered to be a basic psychological human need (Baxter and Pelletier, 2019), associated with mental well-being and also with increased contact with nature (Fretwell and Greig, 2019;Lin et al, 2014;Mayer and Frantz, 2004;Nisbet et al, 2009Nisbet et al, , 2011Nisbet and Zelenski, 2013;Tam, 2013; the serotonin 5-HT 2A receptor) (Carhart-Harris et al, 2014;Glennon et al, 1984;Nichols, 2016) can foster sustained increases in nature relatedness (Forstmann and Sagioglou, 2017;Kettner et al, 2019;Lyons and Carhart-Harris, 2018) and appreciation for and contact with nature (Doblin, 1991;Luke, 2017;Kangaslampi et al, 2020;Noorani et al, 2018;Studerus et al, 2011;Watts et al, 2017). Furthermore, access to nature-based settings during psychedelic sessions predicts positive changes in nature relatedness (Kettner et al, 2019).…”

2019: A year of expansion in psychedelic research, industry, and deregulation

“…Additionally, there was a call to consider individual differences, such as age-related concerns in psychedelic treatment (Aday et al., 2020), and the first experiment to evaluate microdosing in a strictly older adult population was published online in late 2019 (Family et al., 2020). Finally, 2019 was an important year for psychedelic research because a number of impactful findings were published on the drugs’ effects on depression (Davis et al., 2019), substance misuse (Garcia-Romeu et al., 2019), mindfulness (Smigielski et al., 2019), life satisfaction (Uthaug et al., 2019), nature relatedness (Kettner et al., 2019), spiritual experiences (Griffiths et al., 2019), and neural processing (Pallavicini et al., 2019).…”