Spiritual Transformations Induced by Psychedelics Boost Mental Health

Many people rank the psychedelic experience as one of life’s most transformative encounters. Although recent studies suggest that the therapeutic effects of psychedelics wane over time prompting patients to “re-up” on the medicine for sustained relief, substantial research also shows the benefits can last up to a year.

In the past year, researchers delved into the mechanics behind this relief, probing into how “transformations” triggered by psychedelics lead to greater psychological well-being. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, dives into the connection between past psychedelic use, metaphysical beliefs, and overall well-being. What they found was that those who use psychedelics are more inclined to embrace metaphysical idealism, or a belief that consciousness lies at the heart of reality. This perspective, researchers say, is associated with improved mental health. 

READ: Psychedelics Culture Needs Ethical Healers. Here’s How To Be One.

All of this might sound familiar to you. DoubleBlind published a news story on this research in October. Since then, we spoke with Jussi Jylkkä, one of the study’s authors, to gain a deeper understanding on psychedelic-induced spiritual transformations and how they impact our mental health. We discuss why the researchers wanted to organize this study, how idealism and mystical features impact psychological insights, and the difference between secular and spiritual outcomes in psychedelic experiences. 

DoubleBlind: What made you want to organize this study?

Jussi Jylkkä: It has been hypothesized that psychedelics could facilitate spiritual transformations, similar to enlightenment experiences or awakenings, which could underlie their positive effects on well-being. Such transformations would involve holistic changes in a person’s worldview. Previous research indicates that psychedelics use can indeed change a person’s worldview into a non-naturalistic or non-physicalistic direction, but these concepts are broad and vague. We wanted to examine the worldview shifts in more detail. We focused on metaphysical beliefs, which form the core of a person’s worldview: e.g. is the reality fundamentally material or mental.

The study indicates that psychological insights gleaned from the psychedelic experience was more strongly associated with idealism than mystical features. Why do you think psychological insights had a greater impact on metaphysical shifts than the mystical elements traditionally associated with spiritual transformations?

The psychological insight scale that we used focused specifically on insight experiences, whereas the mystical experience questionnaire was broader. It might be that insight experiences are necessary for sustained belief changes, and that the mystical-type features can occur without subsequent changes in beliefs. It is important to note, however, that the psychological insights and mystical-type aspects were quite strongly correlated, so they should not be considered as opposing.

How do you think cultural background may shape the relationship between psychedelic experiences, metaphysical beliefs, and well-being?

This is an open question. It has been shown that the effects of psychedelics are highly sensitive to the “set and setting”, which include the person’s cultural background. On the other hand, the notion of mysticism that is prominent in modern psychedelic research is essentialist, holding that the mystical-type features are similar across persons and contexts. Thus, there’s an apparent contradiction here. More research is needed on how cultural background affects psychedelic experiences and their subsequent effects.

Why is idealism believed to foster psychological well-being?

Intuitively, it makes sense: Suppose you are depressed, don’t see any value in anything, existence is pointless and meaningless. Then you have a profound psychedelic experience that convinces you that we are all beings made of love and light (this phrase was used by one of our research participants in another study). It seems quite intuitive that after such a change you would see the reality in a more positive light, which could alleviate mental suffering. You’d see a point in living, even when there’s suffering.

READ: Your Brain on Psychedelics Looks the Same as Your Brain on Religious Mysticism

The study mentions plans for a longitudinal study. What specific questions do you hope to answer through this approach, and how might it help clarify the causal relationships between psychedelic use, metaphysical beliefs, and well-being?

We hope to map the transformative process in more detail. This involves broader measures of what changes when one uses psychedelics, including both secular psychological and more spiritual changes. This would allow us to better understand how psychedelics could improve well-being, and how all the different transformatory processes are related to each other.

The study notes that not all psychedelic experiences lead to spiritual transformations, and many can mirror secular therapeutic insights. How do you differentiate between secular and spiritual outcomes in psychedelic experiences, and what implications does this have for psychedelic-assisted therapy?

This is an excellent question. Arguably, it is possible for two persons to have a roughly similar experience, and one would call it “spiritual” and the other as “secular”. For example, if one experiences profound awe and wonder about the reality, is this a spiritual experience? “Spirituality” can be a loaded term. I suspect that both the spiritual and psychological aspects of psychedelic experiences are somehow related to each other and reflect some deeper process. Whether we call it “spiritual” or not may be arbitrary.

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