Psychological flexibility mediates the relations between acute psychedelic effects and subjective decreases in depression and anxiety

Summary & key facts

Researchers asked people who had taken psychedelic drugs about their experience and later mood. They measured the intense short-term effects of the drug, how much people said they could accept and act with their thoughts and feelings (called psychological flexibility), and whether people felt less depressed or anxious afterward. The study found that stronger short-term psychedelic effects were linked to bigger increases in psychological flexibility, and those increases helped explain why people reported feeling less depressed and anxious. The data come from people’s own reports after the fact, so the study can show links but cannot prove the drugs caused the mood changes.

Key facts:

• The study used reports from people who had taken psychedelics and asked about their immediate drug effects, their psychological flexibility after the experience, and whether their depression or anxiety went down.
• People who had stronger acute psychedelic effects (for example, intense emotions or mystical-type experiences) also tended to report larger decreases in depression and anxiety afterward.
• Greater psychological flexibility — meaning a person’s ability to notice thoughts and feelings without being controlled by them and still act in line with their values — was linked to those mood improvements.
• Statistical tests showed that increases in psychological flexibility explained much of the connection between the immediate psychedelic effects and subsequent drops in depression and anxiety. In other words, psychological flexibility acted as a bridge between the acute experience and later mood changes.
• All measures were based on people’s recollections and self-reports. The study could not prove cause and had limits like potential memory bias and no control group.

Topics

Chemical synthesis and alkaloids Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Anxiety Clinical psychology Depression (economics) Economics Flexibility (engineering) Macroeconomics Mathematics Psychiatry Psychology Statistics

Substances

Psilocybin

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Depression Anxiety or worry Sadness or low mood