Neuroticism is associated with challenging experiences with psilocybin mushrooms.

People who score higher on neuroticism (or lower on emotional stability) tend to report more intense challenging experiences, such as fear, grief, and paranoia, during psilocybin sessions. Data from two online surveys with 1,993 and 981 participants showed that scores on the Challenging Experience Questionnaire were negatively associated with emotional stability in the first study and positively associated with neuroticism in the second. The findings suggest that personality traits, particularly neuroticism, may help explain why some individuals have more difficult “bad trips” with classic hallucinogens like psilocybin.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Classic hallucinogens (e.g. psilocybin and LSD) have substantial effects on perception, cognition, and emotion that can often be psychologically challenging, however we know very little regarding the source of significant individual variability that has been observed in the frequency and intensity of challenging experiences (i.e. "bad trips") with psychedelics. Previous clinical and observational literature suggests that there may be an association between neuroticism and challenging psychedelic experiences. Data from two online surveys of challenging experiences with psilocybin were analyzed. Multivariate analysis was used to estimate the associations between total score and scores from seven sub-factors (fear, grief, physical distress, insanity, isolation, death, and paranoia) of the Challenging Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), and scale scores from the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) in Study 1 (N=1993) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI) in Study 2 (N = 981). CEQ scores were negatively associated with emotional stability scores (the inverse of neuroticism) in Study 1 and positively associated with neuroticism scores in Study 2. Neuroticism may contribute to the strength of challenging experiences in uncontrolled settings.