Psychedelic Experiences During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings From an International Online Survey

Abstract

Introduction: The current corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a serious global health crisis that has affected large parts of the public and private life worldwide, including the use of psychoactive substances. In this study, we investigated the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of serotonergic psychedelics, i.e., the settings in which people use psychedelics, the motives of usage, and the subjective quality of psychedelic experiences.Methods: The study was part of an international, cross-sectional, internet-based survey (N = 5,049) available in five languages (English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Korean) carried out during the early phase of the pandemic from April to August 2020. Participants were asked to retrospectively rate settings and motives of psychedelic substance use before the pandemic and in the last 4 weeks during the pandemic, as well as changes in psychedelic experiences.Results: Of n = 1,375 participants that reported the use psychedelics in 2019 or 2020, n = 642 (46.6%) also took psychedelics during the pandemic. During the pandemic, participants used psychedelics significantly less often in settings that were outside their home. Top motives to use psychedelics were comparable before and during the pandemic, but participants consumed less out of curiosity, to celebrate, or because friends took it, and more out of boredom. An increase in positively connoted, often pro-social experiences was observed. Two thirds of participants who used psychedelics during the pandemic claimed that psychedelics had helped them to deal better with the corona pandemic at least slightly.Discussion: Changes in setting and motives were mostly in line with restrictions caused by control measures to contain the spread of the virus. The unexpected increase in positively connoted experiences possibly reflects a favorable interaction of environmental macro- and individual micro-contexts during the pandemic (e.g., by reducing the use in more uncontrolled recreational settings or by encouraging a strong self-selection of substance users due to the expectation of “bad trips”). Increased pro-social feelings under psychedelics might reflect a desire for social interactions in times of social distancing and pandemic-related stress and anxiety.

Cannabis use during the early COVID-19 pandemic: Use patterns, predictors, and subjective experiences

“…Boredom has been discussed as a major motivation for cannabis use in psychotic patients as well as emerging adults ( 32 , 33 ) and was a stable motive for cannabis use prior as well as during the pandemic in this sample. Results from studies investigating the use of other substances and respective consumption behaviors also highlight the role of boredom as a persistent motive ( 34 – 36 ). Vanderbruggen found the following most commonly stated motives for an increased cannabis consumption during COVID-19 lockdown measures: boredom, lack of social contacts, loss of daily structure, reward after a hard-working day, loneliness and conviviality ( 21 ).…”

Spatiotemporal Mapping of Online Interest in Cannabis and Popular Psychedelics before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

“…Some survey data confirm that drug use increased during the pandemic [ 52 , 53 ]. Some data, however, indicate a decrease in use, explained by, among other things, less influence from the peer environment [ 54 ]. Research suggests that interest in psychedelics during the COVID-19 pandemic was related to the need to reduce depressive states, anxiety, and insomnia, with the study authors reporting no significant change in trends in psychedelic use [ 55 ].…”

Dose-response relationships of LSD-induced subjective experiences in humans

“…LSD’s pronounced modulation of Audio-Visual Synesthesia via non-5-HT 2A mechanism of action may be associated with the etiology of the rarely occurring hallucinogen-persistent perception disorder (HPPD). The vast majority of case reports on HPPD have been associated with LSD, even if it has to be taken into account that LSD is also the most frequently used psychedelic worldwide [16,78–81]. Generally, observed differences between LSD and psilocybin could either be attributed to extra-pharmacological factors such as set and setting or pharmacological differences resulting from molecular structures with different profiles of receptor activity, durations of action, and potentially different functional selectivity and potency [38,84].…”

“…LSD's pronounced modulation of Audio-Visual Synesthesia via non-5-HT2A mechanism of action may be associated with the etiology of the rarely occurring hallucinogen-persistent perception disorder (HPPD). The vast majority of case reports on HPPD have been associated with LSD, even if it has to be taken into account that LSD is also the most frequently used psychedelic worldwide [16,[78][79][80][81].…”

“…This shift might have taken place due to political aspects given a somewhat notorious image of LSD [15], as well as pragmatic considerations, as psychoactive effects of LSD display longer duration than the latter substances [3]. In recreational underground use, however, LSD is still by far the most frequently used psychedelic worldwide [16], and dosages of psychedelics are often compared to LSD equivalents by users.…”