Responses to psychedelics are notoriously difficult to predict, yet significant work is currently underway to assess their therapeutic potential and the level of interest in psychedelics among the general public appears to be increasing. We aimed to collect prospective data in order to improve our ability to predict acute- and longer-term responses to psychedelics. Individuals who planned to take a psychedelic through their own initiative participated in an online survey (www.psychedelicsurvey.com). Traits and variables relating to set, setting and the acute psychedelic experience were measured at five different time points before and after the experience. Principle component and regression methods were used to analyse the data. Sample sizes for the five time points were N = 654, N = 535, N = 379, N = 315, and N = 212 respectively. Psychological well-being was increased 2 weeks after a psychedelic experience and remained at this level after 4 weeks. Higher ratings of a “mystical-type experience” had a positive effect on the change in well-being after a psychedelic experience, whereas the other acute psychedelic experience measures, i.e., “challenging experience” and “visual effects”, did not influence the change in well-being after the psychedelic experience. Having “clear intentions” for the experience was conducive to mystical-type experiences. Having a positive “set” as well as having the experience with intentions related to “recreation” were both found to decrease the likelihood of having a challenging experience. The baseline trait “absorption” and higher drug doses promoted all aspects of the acute experience, i.e., mystical-type and challenging experiences, as well as visual effects. When comparing the relative contribution of different types of variables in explaining the variance in the change in well-being, it seemed that baseline trait variables had the strongest effect on the change in well-being after a psychedelic experience. These results confirm the importance of extra-pharmacological factors in determining responses to a psychedelic. We view this study as an early step towards the development of empirical guidelines that can evolve and improve iteratively with the ultimate purpose of guiding crucial clinical decisions about whether, when, where and how to dose with a psychedelic, thus helping to mitigate risks while maximizing potential benefits in an evidence-based manner.

Many individuals experience significant positive psychological change after ingesting psychedelic agents such as psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca, but some do not. Such changes appear to be mediated by definable and measurable mystical experiences (MEs) during the psychedelic session, which have been shown in previous research (e.g., Griffiths, Richards, McCann, & Jesse, 2006) to be related to long-term positive personal change. Individual responses to psychedelic agents are characteristically difficult to predict, however, necessitating improved identification of predictors to (a) reduce the possibility of significant challenging experiences and sequelae and (b) increase the possibility of MEs and long-term beneficial outcomes. Our study utilized crowdsourced retrospective survey data from 143 Amazon Mechanical Turk participants who self-administered psilocybin in the past year to identify factors related to MEs and/or challenging experiences. The best performing regression model explained 66% of the variance in ME scores on the 30-item Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MacLean, Leoutsakos, Johnson, & Griffiths, 2012) and 56% of the variance in scores on the dread subscale of the Sacred Emotions Scale (Burdzy, 2014). A state of surrender at the start of the psilocybin session most strongly explained MEs, and a state of preoccupation most strongly explained challenging experiences. The trait absorption was a strong secondary predictor in both models, along with smaller predictors. Additionally, the occurrence of MEs during the psilocybin session explained long-term positive change. Based on these findings, the presented models appear to provide a powerful framework for explaining the immediate quality and long-term consequences of psychedelic experiences. Limitations as well as implications for therapeutic applications are discussed.

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Despite escalating special education costs and increasing student needs, policies governing special education caseload remain inconsistent, and implementation is even more variable. This article considers links between (a) instructional group size and student engagement, (b) caseload and academic achievement, and (c) caseload and special education teacher attrition. Findings suggest that (a) larger caseloads and instructional group sizes negatively impact student math and reading achievement; (b) severity of students' needs sway teacher perceptions of efficacy; (c) group or whole class instruction dominates all class sizes, but individualization occurs more frequently in smaller groups; (d) student attending behaviors and academic engagement increase when group sizes decrease; and (e) high teacher attrition and high caseloads appear correlated. Recommendations for future research are discussed.