Psychedelics and creativity: a review of the quantitative literature

After a 40-year pause, researchers are again asking whether psychedelics can boost creativity. This critical review examines the conceptual challenges in studying psychedelic-induced creativity, summarizing limited evidence and proposing two broader frameworks. Key challenges include separating creativity from other drug effects that might be mistaken for it and developing operational measures to quantify it. The article reviews major studies, including a reanalysis of raw data from one study. Results are modest and inconclusive but consistent with reports that psychedelics produce unusual or novel thoughts. Given the lack of robust changes in creativity measures, creativity may be too specific a construct to capture the beneficial cognitive changes users report. Feelings of creativity may stem from a more general effect, such as altered mental representations or changes in Bayesian inference.

Study at a glance

Abstract

After a 40-year hiatus, the question of whether psychedelics can increase creativity is being asked with renewed vigor. This article critically reviews the conceptual issues of studying psychedelic-induced creativity by summarizing the limited evidence on the question and suggesting two broader frameworks. There are two important challenges to researchers on this topic. One is to separate creativity from other effects of the drug that may be mistaken for creativity. The second is to develop operational measures to quantify it. This article reviews the major studies assessing creativity (or related constructs) induced by psychedelics, including a reanalysis of raw data from one study. Results are modest and inconclusive but are consistent with reports that psychedelics give rise to unusual or novel thoughts. Given the lack of robust changes in creativity measures, I suggest creativity may be too specific of a construct to accurately and fully characterize the putatively beneficial cognitive changes that psychedelic users report. Feelings of creativity may be an inconsistent result of a more general effect of these drugs, such as alterations in availability of mental representations or changes in Bayesian inference. Ultimately, creativity may not be a sufficiently creative construct to capture the beneficial effects of psychedelics.