Journal of psychoactive drugs
February 13, 2025
Stanisław Adamczyk, Małgorzata Paczyńska, Anastasia Ruban et al.
2 citations
Psychedelics can cause profound changes in cognition, emotion, and perception, but the intensity of these effects varies widely. A cross-sectional online survey of 862 psychedelics users (701 had used LSD and 553 had used psilocybin mushrooms) examined how internal and external contextual factors relate to the intensity of ego dissolution. Those who used psychedelics for spiritual or self-healing purposes reported more intense ego dissolution, while those motivated by curiosity reported less intense experiences. The social context and physical environment were not strongly linked to the reported intensity. This suggests that internal mindset, rather than external setting, may be more influential in naturalistic use.
February 26, 2025
Stanisław Adamczyk, Małgorzata Paczyńska, Anastasia Ruban et al.
1 citation
preprint
People who use psychedelics for spiritual or self-healing reasons report more intense ego-dissolution experiences, while those motivated by curiosity report less intense effects. The physical and social setting, however, did not show a strong link to ego-dissolution intensity in naturalistic users, suggesting the influence of context may be more complex. These findings come from an online survey of 862 psychedelic users, mostly using LSD or psilocybin mushrooms, and may help refine harm reduction and therapeutic approaches.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
April 2, 2026
Maja Wójcik, Paweł Orłowski, Stanisław Adamczyk et al.
Long-term naturalistic psychedelic users who had abstained for at least 30 days showed largely no significant differences in brain oscillatory power, signal complexity, or network connectivity compared to non-users, contrary to patterns seen in acute administration studies. Complexity was unexpectedly lower in users during eyes-open conditions. Effective connectivity within and between key brain networks (Default Mode, Salience, Central Executive) showed no group differences after correction. These null findings suggest that repeated psychedelic use may not produce lasting neurophysiological changes detectable in resting-state EEG during abstinence, possibly due to homeostatic adaptation or individual variability.