Perceptions of psychedelic personality change, determinants of use, setting and drug moderation

Toward a holistic model

Bibliographic Data

ID4650916
AuthorsBrandon Wei (0000-0003-2989-2981, corresponding author), Chelsea E Sleep, Chelsea Sleep (0000-0002-8769-3529, Veterans Health Administration), Nicholas M Beller (Adler University), David Erritzoe (0000-0002-7022-6211, Imperial College London), W Keith Campbell (0000-0002-4906-6663, University of Georgia)
Year2023
Volume7
Issue3
Pages200-226
Publication date2023-12-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Psychedelic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2559-9283 • E-ISSN: 2559-9283
PublisherAkademiai Kiado Zrt (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1556/2054.2023.00291
OpenAlexW4389477439
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited49

BackgroundStudies have shown evidence for long-term effects of psychedelics on personality, but comprehensive models of psychedelic-mediated personality changes have yet to be explored.AimsThe present study aims to investigate (1) perceptions of personality change in the general population, (2) moderators of perceived personality change including setting and drug type, and (3) whether personality predisposes individuals to use psychedelics.MethodPaid participants with experience using psychedelic (N = 218), non-users with interest in using psychedelics (N = 104), and non-users without interest in using psychedelic (N = 104) completed an online survey following recruitment from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Psychedelic users were asked to complete written open-ended accounts of perceived personality changes that they attribute to their most intense psychedelic experience. Thematic and factor analyses were undertaken to identify themes of perceived psychedelic change and their organizational structure.Results/OutcomesThematic analyses resulted in 52 unique personality change themes, and exploratory factor analyses yielded eight thematic factors (Unitive Spiritual, Gratitude Absorption, Purpose Freedom, Compassion Understanding, Emotional Stability, Openness Perspective, Connection to Self, and Neuroticism Caution). Interest in psychedelic use among non-users was associated with higher openness and neuroticism. Psychedelic users tended to be more open and extraverted, and less neurotic than non-users, and interested non-users tended to be higher in openness than uninterested non-users.Conclusion/InterpretationThe present results inform a tentative model of how personality leads to psychedelic use, how psychedelic use leads to changes in personality, and how setting and drug moderate different types of changes in personality. Research and clinical implications are discussed, including (1) hypotheses for future prospective and experimental research, (2) the value of creating multi-faceted, holistic measures that reflect the diversity and organizational structure of possible psychedelic changes, and (3) the value of allowing such evidence to guide novel psychedelic-assisted therapeutics

Big Five personality traits · Extraversion and introversion · Moderation · Neuroticism · Openness to experience · Personality · Population · Qualitative research · Thematic analysis · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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