Those who have recently consumed psychedelic substances perceive a sustained improvement in their mood and feel closer to others, even after the effects of the drug have passed, according to a study published Monday in the PNAS magazine.
Previous research had shown that psychedelic substances improve the feelings of social connection and mental well-being of those who ingest them.
In fact, psychedelic substances such as ketamine or psilocybin – synthesized from natural hallucinogenic fungi – are usually administered to patients with trauma, depression, anxiety or addictions (to alcohol or cocaine).
The objective of the research was to confirm the benefit of the use of these drugs and, for this, the scientists made a field study with 1,200 people, attending art and music festivals of several days in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Our results show that people who take psychedelic substances ‘in nature’ report positive experiences very similar to those observed in controlled laboratory studies,” explains Matthias Forstmann, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University and first author of the article.
To do the study, the lead author and professor of Psychology at Yale, Molly Crockett, and her team visited half a dozen festivals and asked attendees who were not then under the influence of psychedelics on their recent social experiences, their state of Mood and substance use.
The team found that people who had recently taken psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin – more commonly known as magic mushrooms – had felt “transformative experiences” so deep that they came out of the test radically changed, even in their moral values.
The transformative experiences, in turn, were associated with feelings of social connection and positive mood, and the most pronounced effects were reported by those who had taken psychedelic drugs in the last 24 hours.
On the contrary, people who did not use these substances, alcohol or other drugs such as cocaine or opiates did not report transformative experiences, greater connectivity with others or a positive mood in the same degree, according to the study.
The study’s conclusions suggest that psychedelic substances may have potential as a therapy for mood disorders.
“We are encouraged that our study is consistent with previous laboratory findings that show psychedelic mood benefits in healthy people and in patients suffering from anxiety and depression,” concludes the Yale professor.
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