The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later
Open accessAbstract
Psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes; however, little is known scientifically about its long-term effects. We previously reported the effects of a double-blind study evaluating the psychological effects of a high psilocybin dose. This report presents the 14-month follow-up and examines the relationship of the follow-up results to data obtained at screening and on drug session days. Participants were 36 hallucinogen-naïve adults reporting regular participation in religious/ spiritual activities. Oral psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) was administered on one of two or three sessions, with methylphenidate (40 mg/70 kg) administered on the other session(s). During sessions, volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. At the 14-month follow-up, 58% and 67%, respectively, of volunteers rated the psilocybin-occasioned experience as being among the five most personally meaningful and among the five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives; 64% indicated that the experience increased well-being or life satisfaction; 58% met criteria for having had a 'complete' mystical experience. Correlation and regression analyses indicated a central role of the mystical experience assessed on the session day in the high ratings of personal meaning and spiritual significance at follow-up. Of the measures of personality, affect, quality of life and spirituality assessed across the study, only a scale measuring mystical experience showed a difference from screening. When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences that, at 14-month follow-up, were considered by volunteers to be among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Psilocybin (4-phosphryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a serotonergic classic psychedelic (19–25) that has been examined in combination with psychological support as a promising treatment option in clinical trials for various disorders (26–28).”
From Acute and post-dosing effects of single-dose psilocybin for obsessive-compulsive disorder in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial: an interpretative phenomenological analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [21]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“supporting evidence that psilocybin increases emotional empathy, attachment security and other prosocial effects, which has been observed previously [61,62].”
From Psilocybin‐assisted psychotherapy for methamphetamine use disorder: A pilot open‐label safety and feasibility study. (2025) · cites this paper as [62]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Psychedelic experiences in clinical settings are often characterized as highly meaningful.”
From Authenticity and Love Drugs: Insights from Psychedelic Therapy (2026) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al. 2008
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“psilocybin treatment has been described as one of the most meaningful experiences (Griffiths et al. 2008;Smith and Sisti 2020) in the lives of participants of several studies.”
From Authenticity and Love Drugs: Insights from Psychedelic Therapy (2026) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al. 2008
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“in our trial, participants rarely described the full array of acute effects that together prototypically constitute ‘full mystical experiences’ described in landmark studies (e.g., psilocybin for existential distress or depression) (21, 63).”
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Mindfulness meditation and mindfulness-based interventions can augment positive affect in healthy and clinical populations acutely and long-term (10, 88) and a similar mood-enhancing potential has been demonstrated for psychedelics such as psilocybin (29, 38, 60, 83, 87).”
From Examining the Potential Synergistic Effects Between Mindfulness Training and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (2021) · cites this paper as [83]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Importantly, previous studies utilising psychedelic-administration outside of a mindfulness-enhancing context have failed to show such positive trait changes (83, 87, 133), with the exception of trait openness (74, 134).”
From Examining the Potential Synergistic Effects Between Mindfulness Training and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (2021) · cites this paper as [83]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Controlled studies where subjects achieved mystical experiences under the effects of psilocybin showed personal long-term benefits (Griffiths et al., 2008; Griffiths et al., 2011).”
From Psychological variables implied in the therapeutic effect of ayahuasca: A contextual approach (2018) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al., 2008
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“we suggest this is not the case where the meaning derived can continue to influence and help the person beyond the use of the drug, as studies have indicated (Griffiths et al. 2008;Lebedev et al. 2016).”
From Authenticity and Love Drugs: Insights from Psychedelic Therapy (2026) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al. 2008
In the citing paper
“Self-reported increases in interpersonal closeness and positive/altruistic social effects were reported 1, 2, 6, and 14 months after one and two administrations of psilocybin (89–92).”
From Modulation of Social Cognition via Hallucinogens and “Entactogens” (2019) · cites this paper as [90]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature.
James, W. (1902) · doi:10.1037/10004-000 · Cited by 5,204
The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule - Expanded Form
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1994) · doi:10.17077/48vt-m4t2 · Cited by 3,790
Psychological Assessment Resources
Abidin, R. R. (1995) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 3,141
Peterman, A. H., Fitchett, G., Brady, M. J., Hernandez, L., & Cella, D. (2002) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1207/s15324796abm2401_06 · Cited by 1,751
Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2006) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5 · Cited by 1,684 · cited 9×
“The purpose of having the possibility of a third session was to help control for expectancy effects (Griffiths et al., 2006).”
InfluentialSelf-citationThe Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2008) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781849200479.n9 · Cited by 1,569
The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach
Donahue, M. J., Hood, R. W., Spilka, B., Hunsberger, B. E., & Gorsuch, R. L. (1998) · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion · doi:10.2307/1388044 · Cited by 1,339
Piedmont, R. L. (1999) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00080 · Cited by 1,249
Nichols, D. E. (2004) · Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2003.11.002 · Cited by 1,211
Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety
Johnson, M., Richards, W., & Griffiths, R. (2008) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881108093587 · Cited by 1,203
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 10
- Doblin, R., 1991, J Transpersonal Psychol, 23, 1
- Frisch, MB, 1994, QOLI, Quality of Life Inventory: Manual and Treatment Guide for the Quality of Life Inventory
- Hollister, LE, 1961, Arch Int Pharmacodyn Ther, 130, 42
- Hood Jr, RW, 2000, J Psychology Christ, 19, 232
- Johnson, MW, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22
- Metzner, R., 2004, Teonanacatl: Sacred Mushroom of Visions. El Verano
- Metzner, R., 1965, Psychedelic Rev, 5, 3
- Pahnke, WN, PhD Thesis presented to the President and Fellows of Harvard University in Religion and Society
- Pahnke, WN (1967) LSD and religious experience. In: DeBold, RC , Leaf, RC (eds), LSD Man & Society. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, pp. 60-85.
- Pahnke, WN, 1969, Int Psychiatry Clin, 5, 149
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–121 of 121
Eleftheriou, M. E., & Thomas, E. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.707057 · Cited by 39
“Importantly, previous studies utilising psychedelicadministration outside of a mindfulness-enhancing context have failed to show such positive trait changes (83, 87, 133), with the exception of trait openness (74, 134).”
BackgroundOrłowski, P., Ruban, A., Szczypiński, J., Hobot, J., Bielecki, M., & Bola, M. (2022) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/02698811221089034 · Cited by 41
Systematic review of psychometric instruments used in research with psychedelics
de Deus Pontual, A. A., Senhorini, H. G., Corradi-Webster, C. M., Tófoli, L. F., & Daldegan-Bueno, D. (2023) · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs · doi:10.1080/02791072.2022.2079108 · Cited by 36
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for Substance Use Disorders and Potential Mechanisms of Action
Rieser, N. M., Herdener, M., & Preller, K. H. (2021) · Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences · doi:10.1007/7854_2021_284 · Cited by 37
Fernández, X., dos Santos, R. G., Cutchet, M., Fondevila, S., González, D., Alcázar, M. Á., Riba, J., Bouso, J. C., & María Fábregas, J. (2014) · The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40426-9_11 · Cited by 36
Pepe, M., Hesami, M., de la Cerda, K. A., Perreault, M. L., Hsiang, T., & Jones, A. M. P. (2023) · Biotechnology Advances · doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2023.108247 · Cited by 36
Hovmand, O. R., Poulsen, E. D., & Arnfred, S. (2024) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/02698811231200019 · Cited by 33
“…for success with smoking cessation (Garcia-Romeu et al., 2014), done with primarily psilocybin (Bogenschutz et al., 2015; Garcia-Romeu et al., 2014; Griffiths et al., 2008; Roseman et al., 2018) but also a variety of psychedelic sub-stances including DMT (Barsuglia et al., 2018; Bouso et al.,…”
BackgroundFrymann, T., Whitney, S., Yaden, D. B., & Lipson, J. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.863247 · Cited by 30
Ching, T. H. W., Grazioplene, R., Bohner, C., Kichuk, S. A., DePalmer, G., D’Amico, E., Eilbott, J., Jankovsky, A., Burke, M., Hokanson, J., et al. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1178529 · Cited by 29
DellaCrosse, M., Pleet, M., Morton, E., Ashtari, A., Sakai, K., Woolley, J., & Michalak, E. (2022) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0279073 · Cited by 28
O'Donnell, K. C., Mennenga, S. E., Owens, L. T., Podrebarac, S. K., Baron, T., Rotrosen, J., Ross, S., Forcehimes, A. A., & Bogenschutz, M. P. (2022) · Contemporary Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/j.cct.2022.106976 · Cited by 23
Exploring psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of methamphetamine use disorder
Brett, J., Knock, E., Korthuis, P. T., Liknaitzky, P., Murnane, K. S., Nicholas, C. R., Patterson, J. C., & Stauffer, C. S. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1123424 · Cited by 16
“Lastly, psilocybin can occasion profound mystical-type experiences that mediate ratings of substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance (57, 60, 61).”
BackgroundBarnett (2024) · doi:10.1089/psymed.2023.0010 · Cited by 13
St. Arnaud, K. O., & Cormier, D. C. (2017) · International Journal of Transpersonal Studies · doi:10.24972/ijts.2017.36.2.44 · Cited by 12
de la Fuente Revenga, M., Zhu, B., Guevara, C. A., Naler, L. B., Saunders, J. M., Zhou, Z., Toneatti, R., Sierra, S., Wolstenholme, J. T., Beardsley, P. M., et al. (2021) · doi:10.1101/2021.02.24.432725 · Cited by 11
Knock, E., Siefried, K. J., Bedi, G., Albert, S., Day, R. O., Ezard, N., Ross, M., Liknaitzky, P., & Brett, J. (2025) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/add.70187 · Cited by 9
Ching, T. H. W., Grazioplene, R., Pittenger, C., & Kelmendi, B. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/ba42z · Cited by 6
Ching, T. H. W., Stahnke, B., Shnayder, S., Agin-Liebes, G., Adams, T. G., Amoroso, L., Baiz, O., Belser, A., Bohner, C., Burke, M., et al. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1726818 · Cited by 6
Tolerability, assessment, and prediction of psilocybin-induced altered states of consciousness
Studerus, E. (2012) · University of Zurich · doi:10.5167/uzh-164092 · Cited by 6
Altered states of leadership: mindfulness meditation, psychedelic use, and leadership development
Simonsson, O., Stenfors, C. U. D., Goldberg, S. B., Hendricks, P. S., & Osika, W. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1151626 · Cited by 5
Authenticity and Love Drugs: Insights from Psychedelic Therapy
Thomas, O., & Silva, F. (2026) · AJOB Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/21507740.2025.2517007
Metadata
- Authors
- Griffiths, R., Richards, W., Johnson, M., McCann, U., & Jesse, R.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (US)
- Council on Spiritual Practices, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Corresponding author
- Griffiths, RR
- Venue
- Journal of Psychopharmacology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-05-30
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 621-632
- ISSN
- 0269-8811 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7285
- PMC
- PMC3050654
- OpenAlex
- W2119738402
- Semantic Scholar
- 8b54ddd9e7bd7d50e17fd859f71038906017cf13
- Cited by
- 905
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 57 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 89 · 2023: 89 · 2022: 101 · 2021: 79 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 54 · 2017: 44 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 20.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Heffter Research Institute
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA003889)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Keywords
- psilocybin, mystical experience, personal meaning, spiritual meaning, long-term effects, life satisfaction, well-being, spirituality, religious experience, personality, quality of life
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Oral, Adult, Affect, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Hallucinogens, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mysticism, Personality, Psilocybin, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Religion, Time Factors, Knowledge, Spirituality
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
