Naturalistic use of psychedelics is related to emotional reactivity and self-consciousness: The mediating role of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences
Abstract
Background: Psychedelics are able to acutely alter emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. However, whether the regular naturalistic use of psychedelics can be linked to more persistent trait-level changes in these domains remains an open question. Aim: To test the hypotheses that (1) using psychedelics is related to higher positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; and (2) an adaptive pattern of self-consciousness, including diminished public self-consciousness and rumination, and increased reflection and self-awareness; and (3) these relations are mediated by the intensity of past ego-dissolution and mystical experiences. Method: An online survey including questions about the history of psychoactive substance use; questionnaires measuring trait levels of emotional reactivity and self-consciousness; questionnaires for retrospective assessment of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences. Data collected from 2516 participants (1661 psychedelics users) were analyzed using robust linear regression and mediation analysis. Results: A higher number of lifetime uses of psychedelics predicted greater positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; also, in the domain of self-consciousness, it predicted greater reflection and internal state awareness, and reduced rumination tendency and public self-consciousness. Finally, the intensity of past mystical and ego-dissolution experiences mediated almost all the observed relationships between the lifetime number of psychedelics uses and psychological variables. Conclusions: Lifetime psychedelics use predicts an adaptive pattern of trait-level emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. Ego-dissolution and mystical experiences are essential in understanding the long-lasting psychological effects of psychedelics use. Our findings might potentially explain previous observations of increased well-being in psychedelics users.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
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?
Psychedelic experiences influence emotional processing and self-awareness.
“While research on psychedelics' effects on emotion regulation is limited, it indicates that psychedelic experiences influence emotional processing and self-awareness [87, 88].”
From Mindfulness meditation and psychedelics: potential synergies and commonalities (2023) · cites this paper as [87]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 81 · Cited by 41
- Authors
- Orłowski, P., Ruban, A., Szczypiński, J., Hobot, J., Bielecki, M., & Bola, M.
- Affiliations
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- Uniwersytet SWPS (PL)
- Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego (PL)
- Jagiellonian University (PL)
- Corresponding author
- Bola, Michał
- Venue
- Journal of Psychopharmacology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2022-04-27
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 987-1000
- ISSN
- 0269-8811 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7285
- OpenAlex
- W4224998755
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 7.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Narodowe Centrum Nauki (2020/37/N/HS6/02086)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- psychedelics, naturalistic psychedelic use, emotional reactivity, self-consciousness, ego dissolution, mystical experience, rumination, public self-consciousness, self-awareness, mediation, well-being
- MeSH terms
- Consciousness, Ego, Hallucinogens, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Solubility
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
