Findings from a landmark survey have revealed that people with experience using psychedelics exhibited elevated psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Offering new insights into the potential benefits of psychedelics on mental well-being during the pandemic, the authors call for more research investigating psychedelics as tools for improving mental health.
The study was carried out by ICEERS, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto and the Autonomous University of Madrid, and published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The international survey questioned participants on their lockdown experiences beginning in April 2020, finding that people with experience with psychedelics exhibited consistently elevated psychological well-being and registered lower scores on psychopathology scales.
This was true both during their initial assessment and in subsequent follow-up evaluations.
The results also showed that individuals who were experiencing significant psychological distress exhibited noteworthy progress in post-traumatic growth. Additionally, survey participants who maintained a consistent pattern of psychedelic use had significantly higher post-traumatic growth scores despite generally scoring lower across all growth scales.
Lead researcher of the study, Dr José Carlos Bouso, commented: “The study serves as a timely contribution to the growing body of evidence supporting innovative mental health treatments.
“We need medical and cultural frameworks that not only effectively address mental health issues, but also help prevent them.
“The clinical trials currently underway are focused on alleviating the disease, while our study explores the key consideration of prevention.”
The authors suggest the findings from the study have the potential to contribute to policy reform that allows for more extensive studies and therapeutic applications of psychedelic medicines.
