Reduced death anxiety as a mediator of the relationship between acute subjective effects of psychedelics and improved subjective well-being
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12095908 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sam G Moreton (0000-0002-4585-2755, University of Wollongong, corresponding author), Andrew Arena (0000-0002-7105-2911, Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Yolanda Foy (University of Wollongong), Rachel E Menzies (0000-0001-6905-4873, The University of Sydney) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1115-1126 |
| Publication date | 2023-02-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Death Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0748-1187 • E-ISSN: 1091-7683 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07481187.2023.2169848 |
| PMID | 36729996 |
| OpenAlex | W4318933952 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 58 |
Research over the past several decades suggests that meaningful psychedelic experiences can engender long-term effects on subjective wellbeing. However, less research has investigated the psychological mechanisms through which these effects may emerge. In the present study, participants ( N = 201) completed an online survey that retrospectively measured the acute effects of a meaningful psychedelic experience, as well as changes in subjective well-being and death anxiety. Reductions in death anxiety significantly mediated the effects of mystical experience on satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect. Reductions in death anxiety did not mediate any of the effects of psychological insight. Although correlational, the findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some of the benefits of psychedelic-induced mystical experiences on subjective well-being may emerge due to reductions in death anxiety. Nevertheless, further research is needed to establish a causal effect of reduced death anxiety on well-being in the context of psychedelic experiences
Affect (linguistics · Anxiety · Context (archaeology · Death anxiety · Life satisfaction · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Terror management theory · Clinical Psychology · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
Is a fear of death keeping you awake at night? Death anxiety predicts insomnia through nightmare severity
Ayahuasca-induced personal death experiences
Death Anxiety Among Users and Non-Users of Psychedelics
Investigating the relationship between changes in metaphysical beliefs and death anxiety following a significant psychedelic experience
Exploring associations between connectedness and death anxiety following a psychedelic experience
Discussion of “Expansion and Regression in Oceanic Experience
Spirituality as a Therapeutic Approach for Severe Mental Illness
The varieties of religious experience
Psychological Well-Being Revisited
The Subjective Effects of Psychedelics Are Necessary for Their Enduring Therapeutic Effects
Validation of the revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire in experimental sessions with psilocybin
Quality of Acute Psychedelic Experience Predicts Therapeutic Efficacy of Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression
Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology
Psychedelics and connectedness
Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance
When death thoughts lead to death fears
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of prosocial attitudes and behaviors
The relationship between death anxiety and severity of mental illnesses
Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later
Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences"
Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation
Psychedelics
The Satisfaction With Life Scale
On Happiness and Human Potentials
Death anxiety in adult life—theoretical perspectives
The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death
Staring at the sun
Psychedelics and potential benefits in “healthy normals”
Psychological flexibility mediates the relations between acute psychedelic effects and subjective decreases in depression and anxiety
Death Anxiety in Older Adults
A systematic review of the psychometric properties of death anxiety self-report measures
Living Authentically in the Face of Death
A note on the score reliability for the Satisfaction With Life Scale
Symbolic immortality and the management of the terror of death
New Well-being Measures
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |