Can a psychedelic journey change what you value most?

A single dose of psilocybin can lead to lasting shifts in a person’s life values, such as an increased appreciation for life and greater self-acceptance. These lasting changes appear to be driven by specific acute effects of the drug, particularly feelings of profound unity and euphoria. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Psilocybin is the active chemical found in certain species of mushrooms. It is a classic psychedelic drug that temporarily alters human perception and mood. The chemical works largely by binding to specific serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical messenger involved in many neural functions, including mood regulation.

Researchers have conducted early clinical trials to test whether this chemical can help treat mental health conditions. Some trials have explored its use for major depressive disorder, anxiety associated with advanced cancers, and alcohol use disorder. Early trial results indicate that the drug might facilitate changes in beliefs and subjective well-being. These outcomes have sparked renewed interest in psychedelic therapies.

Researchers suspect that these positive psychological shifts rely heavily on the quality of a person’s initial experience while under the influence of the drug. People who report feelings of spiritual connection or a sense of ego dissolution often show the greatest long-term psychological changes. Ego dissolution refers to a temporary loss of one’s sense of self and a feeling of deep connection with the surrounding world. This temporary state may create opportunities for emotional healing.

Understanding these value shifts is important for the treatment of severe mood disorders. People suffering from depression often lose their sense of purpose and struggle with low self-worth. If a medical intervention can consistently boost self-acceptance and life appreciation, it could act as a potent therapeutic tool. Clinicians need to understand exactly how these drugs provoke such changes.

Free daily newsletter

Jess Kerr-Gaffney, a scientist at King’s College London, led a team to investigate how different doses of the drug affect healthy volunteers. Co-authors included James Rucker and a team of clinical researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in London. They wanted to see if the drug changed core personality traits, psychological symptoms, and personal values. They also sought to understand if certain features of the acute psychedelic state could explain any observed changes.

The academic team conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. They recruited eighty-nine healthy adult participants who had no current or past psychiatric disorders. Each participant was assigned to receive either twenty-five milligrams of psilocybin, ten milligrams of psilocybin, or an inactive placebo. The study drug was given in identical capsules to prevent participants from knowing which dose they received.

Participants took the capsules in a controlled, supervised clinical setting. A trained therapist and a chaperone monitored each person for several hours while the drug took effect. The therapeutic team was available to provide emotional support and discuss the experience afterward. Once the immediate effects wore off, the participants were allowed to return home.

The research team evaluated the volunteers at regular intervals, checking in at day eight and day eighty-five after the dosing session. They used standardized questionnaires to measure changes in five common personality traits, such as extraversion and openness. They also looked for changes in common psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety and obsessive thinking.

To assess shifts in personal values, the team utilized a specialized survey originally designed to measure life changes after near-death experiences. This questionnaire evaluates self-acceptance, concern for others, appreciation for life, and spiritual focus. The researchers also measured the participants’ immediate psychedelic experience using a separate survey given shortly after the drug’s effects subsided.

The study results revealed that psilocybin did not alter basic personality traits or psychiatric symptoms in this specific group. The lack of change in psychological symptoms was anticipated, as the volunteers were healthy individuals without psychiatric diagnoses. Personality traits are generally stable over a lifespan, making them difficult to alter with a single experimental intervention. The outcomes matched these expectations.

The researchers did observe distinct shifts in personal values among those who received either dose of the active drug compared to the placebo group. Participants reported an increased appreciation for life and higher levels of self-acceptance. They also demonstrated a stronger quest for meaning and an elevated concern for others. These shifts were absent in the control group.

These life value shifts remained present at both the one-week and twelve-week follow-up points. The volunteers in the ten-milligram group also reported a decreased focus on worldly achievements, such as wealth or career success. Participants in the highest dose group showed an initial increase in their concern for social and planetary issues, though this did not persist until the final follow-up.

By analyzing the survey data, the research team found that a specific facet of the psychedelic experience governed these changes in values. The researchers refer to this state as oceanic boundlessness. This psychological term describes feelings of deep euphoria, spiritual awakening, and a sense of oneness with the universe. It is a hallmark of strong psychedelic reactions.

The participants who experienced the highest degrees of oceanic boundlessness were the ones who reported the greatest positive shifts in their life values. The acute feeling of unity and spiritual insight acted as a bridge between the physical drug administration and the subsequent changes in daily perspective. To a lesser degree, some participants who experienced auditory alterations while on the drug also showed short-term increases in social and planetary concerns.

The researchers also tested the participants’ cognitive flexibility, which is the mental ability to switch seamlessly between thinking about two different concepts. Some earlier studies suggested that psychedelics improve this flexibility, allowing people to break out of rigid thought patterns. The team used a rule-learning computer task to test this mental agility one week after the dosing session.

The team found no statistical differences in cognitive flexibility between the psilocybin groups and the placebo group. The healthy volunteers may have already possessed high cognitive flexibility before the experiment even began. This high baseline could have prevented the researchers from detecting any additional improvements. The measurement tool may also lack the sensitivity needed to capture subtle psychological shifts.

The scientists noted several limitations in their experimental design. The use of an inactive placebo means that participants likely knew whether they had received the psychoactive drug or not. These subjective effects can lead to a phenomenon known as functional unblinding. When participants realize they received the drug, their expectations might influence how they answer the follow-up surveys.

Many of the volunteers in this trial also had prior experience with psychedelic substances in their personal lives. Their previous use might have shaped their expectations and their baseline personality traits. The participants in this study scored higher on the personality trait of openness than the reading public average before the trial even started. This indicates a pre-existing bias toward novel experiences.

The questionnaires used to measure personal values relied entirely on self-reporting. Participants had to think back and estimate how much their beliefs had changed since the dosing session in the clinic. This reliance on memory introduces the potential for recall bias, as people might unintentionally exaggerate their personal growth. Future studies could incorporate interviews with family members to verify these purported behavioral shifts.

Future research will need to include larger groups of participants to verify these outcomes. The authors recommend using an active placebo, such as a very low drug dose or a different psychoactive compound, to maintain the blinding process in future trials. Testing these life value changes in patient populations, rather than healthy volunteers, could reveal how these value shifts aid in the psychological healing process.

The study, “Effects of psilocybin on personality, psychiatric symptoms, and values: Exploring mediating effects of the acute psychedelic experience,” was authored by Jess Kerr-Gaffney, Samuel Myrtle, Famia Askari, Catherine Bird, Nadav Liam Modlin, Allan H. Young, and James Rucker.