Psychedelic Experiences and Mindfulness are Associated with Improved Wellbeing

Both mindfulness and mystical experiences from psychedelics independently predict substantial increases in psychological wellbeing. Psychedelics moderate the link between mystical experience and wellbeing, amplifying its positive effects. These findings come from a large sample of 1,219 people who engage in both meditation and psychedelic use, providing some of the first naturalistic evidence for a strong relationship among personal mindfulness practice, recreational psychedelic use, and overall wellbeing.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Both psychedelics and mindfulness are a recently emerging topic of interest in academia and popular culture alike. Personal meditation practices and recreational psychedelic use have consistently increased in the past decade. While clinical work has shown both to improve long-term wellbeing, the data on naturalistic applications of psychedelics and mindfulness is rather lacking. The current study aims to examine the relationship between psychedelic use, mindfulness, and multi-faceted wellbeing as an outcome. Hierarchical regression was used to quantify these associations on a large sample of people (N = 1219), who engage in both meditation practices and psychedelic use. These results show that both mindfulness and mystical experiences each predict substantial increases in wellbeing. Psychedelics were found to be an important moderator of mystical experience to explain improvements in wellbeing. These data are among the first to establish a strong relationship between personal mindfulness practice, recreational psychedelic use, and overall psychological wellbeing in a naturalistic framework.