Cross-validation of the ego dissolution scale: implications for studying psychedelics.

Ego dissolution—the experience of losing one's sense of self—is a key feature of psychedelic drug use. Researchers developed and cross-validated a 10-item Ego Dissolution Scale (EDS) for measuring this phenomenon in everyday life, not just during acute drug effects. In an online sample of 527 participants, the scale showed a two-factor structure: Ego-Loss and Unity/connectedness with others, the world, or universe. The total score and both subfactors had adequate-to-good reliability and strong convergent validity with measures such as mindfulness, hallucination-proneness, sleep variables, personality, affect, transliminality, and dissociation. Neuroticism and social desirability did not correlate highly with ego dissolution. Distinct patterns emerged for the two subfactors, supporting the scale's use in studying everyday ego dissolution and long-term effects of psychedelics.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Introduction: Ego dissolution, variously called Ego-Loss, self-loss, and ego disintegration, is a hallmark of psychedelic drug use. We cross-validated the 10-item Ego Dissolution Scale, which we developed to assess ego dissolution in everyday life, and we included comparator variables that expanded our original assessment of construct validity. Methods: = 527) completed the measures online. Results: We replicated the original two factor structure (i.e., subfactors: Ego-Loss and Unity/connectedness with others, the world, universe), and we determined that the total score (Cronbach's α = 0.79) and subfactors (Ego-Loss = 78; Unity = 0.83) possessed adequate-to-good reliability and strong convergent validity (e.g., mindfulness, hallucination-predisposition, sleep variables, personality variables, positive/negative affect transliminality, dissociation/depersonalization), while neuroticism, social desirability did not correlate highly with ego dissolution. We identified distinct patterns of relations of measures associated with the Ego-Loss vs. Unity subfactors. Discussion: We discuss the implications of the use of the EDS for studying everyday aspects of ego dissolution, the long-term effects of psychedelic use, and the value of using the scale in conjunction with measures of the acute effects of psychedelics.