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PreprintCited by 6Psychedelics and Drug StudiesMindfulness and Compassion InterventionsParanormal Experiences and Beliefs

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Can Psychedelic Use Benefit Meditation Practice? Examining Individual, Psychedelic, and Meditation-Related Factors

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Jiwani, Zishan, Goldberg, Simon B., Stroud, Jack, Young, Jacob, Curtin, John, Dunne, John D., Simonsson, Otto, Webb, Christian A., Carhart-Harris, Robin, Schlosser, Marco·2024·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1101/2024.08.27.24312677PMC PMC11819602

Preprint — published as 10.1371/journal.pone.0310160 · Paper page

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Abstract

Introduction: Meditation practice and psychedelic use have attracted increasing attention in the public sphere and scientific research. Both methods induce non-ordinary states of consciousness that may have significant therapeutic benefits. Thus, there is growing scientific interest in potential synergies between psychedelic use and meditation practice with some research suggesting that psychedelics may benefit meditation practice. The present study examined individual, psychedelic-related, and meditation-related factors to determine under what conditions meditators perceive psychedelic use as beneficial for their meditation practice. Method: Participants ( N = 863) who had reported psychedelic use and a regular meditation practice (at least 3 times per week during the last 12 months) were included in the study. To accommodate a large number of variables, machine learning (i.e., elastic net, random forest) was used to analyze the data. Results: Most participants ( n = 634, 73.5%) found psychedelic use to have a positive influence on their quality of meditation. Twenty-eight variables showed significant zero-order associations with perceived benefits even following a correction. Elastic net had the best performance (R 2 = .266) and was used to identify the most important features. Across 53 variables, the model found that greater use of psychedelics, intention setting during psychedelic use, agreeableness, and exposure to N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (N,N-DMT) were most likely to be associated with the perception that psychedelics benefit meditation practice. The results were consistent across several different approaches used to identify the most important variables (i.e., Shapley values, feature ablation). Discussion: Results suggest that most meditators found psychedelic use to have a positive influence on their meditation practice, with: 1) regularity of psychedelic use, 2) the setting of intentions for psychedelic use, 3) having an agreeable personality, and 4) reported use of N,N-DMT being the most likely predictors of perceiving psychedelic use as beneficial. Longitudinal designs and randomized trials manipulating psychedelic use are needed to establish causality.

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Metadata

Authors
Jiwani, Z., Goldberg, S. B., Stroud, J., Young, J., Curtin, J., Dunne, J. D., Simonsson, O., Webb, C. A., Carhart-Harris, R., & Schlosser, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • University College London (GB)
  • Karolinska Institutet (SE)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
Schlosser, Marco
ORCID
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2024-08-28
Volume
20
Issue
2
Pages
e0310160-e0310160
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1101/2024.08.27.24312677
PMC
PMC11819602
OpenAlex
W4407394179
Cited by
6
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4
FWCI
7.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Tommy Fuss Fund
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH116969)
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (K23AT010879, R01AT011002)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
Keywords
psychedelic use, meditation practice, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, agreeableness, personality traits, non-ordinary states of consciousness

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