A Retrospective Study to Determine the Impact of Psychedelic Therapy for Dimensional Measures of Wellness: A Qualitative Analysis of Response Data

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines wellness as the optimal state of health of individuals and groups. No study to date has identified the impact of psychedelic medicines for optimizing wellness using a dimensional approach. Treatment effects can be measured more broadly using a composite score of participants global perceptions of change for pain, function, and mood scores. Given the precedence in previous work for retrospective study of participants self-medicating with these substances, the nature of this study design allows for a safe way to develop further evidence in this area of care, with wellness as the broad indication. Methods: 65 civilian or military veterans between the ages of 18-99 self-identifying as having used psychedelic medicines for non-recreational therapeutic purposes in the last 3 years were recruited for this study. Participants completed various standardized questionnaires that will be analyzed in a separate study, while this study analyzed the qualitative experiences described in relation to the medicines used and coded them according to themes developed from review of previous literature. Results: A total of 93 comments were analyzed. Participant comments were classified into these categories: mysticism and spirituality, functional improvement and self awareness, social connection and cultural impact, impact on medical and mental health conditions, neutral impressions, sensations or difficult experiences. Participants described impacts in these categories related to spiritual, physiological, psychological, and social improvements, as well as difficulties and complex emotions regarding the experience of using psychedelic medicines. Discussion: Wellness of individuals or groups is not simply an absence of disease, symptoms, or impairments. Rather, it reflects the outcome of numerous personal characteristics, psychophysiology, and choices, expressed throughout one's lifespan, unfolding in dynamic interaction with a complicated socio-cultural and physical environment. Participants that used psychedelic medicines described improvement of medical and mental health conditions, social interaction, spirituality, and overall function. In general, quality of life and wellness consequently improved after the use of these medicines based on established multidimensional factors. Conclusion: The use of various psychedelic medicines appears to be associated with a broad range of qualitative experiences that could help clarify the mechanism of how they impact wellness in the future.

A Retrospective Study to Determine the Impact of Psychedelic Therapy for Dimensional Measures of Wellness: A Quantitative Analysis

“…Treatment outcomes using this approach can be complicated to differentiate due to significant comorbidities between various mental and physical conditions, as participants afflicted with comorbid conditions are often not included in studies (Cucinello-Ragland & Edwards, 2021;Kirsh, 2010;Kleykamp et al, 2021;Kohrt et al, 2018;McParland et al, 2021;Myhr & Augestad, 2013;Weeks et al, 2016). To further explain the underpinning of these challenges some authors highlight overlapping symptomatology, treatments, and functional consequences, while other authors argue causative relationships where these conditions influence each other (Aronoff, 2016;Di Virgilio et al, 2023;Fornasari, 2012;Kynast et al, 2013;Rieder et al, 2017).…”

“…Therefore combining a dimensional approach with emerging therapies like psychedelic medicines could be an effective validation method. Individuals with varying degrees of symptomatology could then be compared regardless of their underlying clinical diagnoses (Di Virgilio et al, 2023). This would build on recent studies about psychedelics for different mental health indications supporting benefits for various conditions, such as addiction, mood, end-of-life care, and pain and anxiety disorders (Bornemann et al, 2021;Gasser et al, 2015;Malone et al, 2018;Nielson et al, 2018;Watts et al, 2017).…”

“…Furthermore, as all psychedelic medicines are used in similar ways, across indications and appear to be safe, it would be useful to study them comparatively using a dimensional approach for overall well-being. Using this approach employed in our study, we believe could lead to a richer understanding of the degree and scope of benefit that these medicines offer (Bornemann et al, 2021;Castellanos et al, 2020;Di Virgilio et al, 2023;Tupper et al, 2015).…”

“…We therefore designed this study to measure the treatment effects more broadly using a composite score of participant global perception of change, along with pain, function, and mood scores, which has not been done to date (Di Virgilio et al, 2023). The other part of this study involved the qualitative analysis of the comments left by the participants (Di Virgilio et al, 2023) using this approach. These comments were categorized into various themes and described improvements and experiences for this class of medicines.…”

“…The quantitative outcomes of this dataset will be reported here and may further contextualize the effect of these medications on improving wellness. (Di Virgilio et al, 2023).…”