Psychedelics, Personality and Political Perspectives

Abstract

The psychedelic experience (including psychedelic-induced ego dissolution) can effect lasting change in a person's attitudes and beliefs. Here, we aimed to investigate the association between naturalistic psychedelic use and personality, political perspectives, and nature relatedness using an anonymous internet survey. Participants (N = 893) provided information about their naturalistic psychedelic, cocaine, and alcohol use, and answered questions relating to personality traits of openness and conscientiousness (Ten-Item Personality Inventory), nature relatedness (Nature-Relatedness Scale), and political attitudes (one-item liberalism-conservatism measure and five-item libertarian-authoritarian measure). Participants also rated the degree of ego dissolution experienced during their "most intense" recalled psychedelic experience (Ego-Dissolution Inventory). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that lifetime psychedelic use (but not lifetime cocaine use or weekly alcohol consumption) positively predicted liberal political views, openness and nature relatedness, and negatively predicted authoritarian political views, after accounting for potential confounding variables. Ego dissolution experienced during a participant's "most intense" psychedelic experience positively predicted liberal political views, openness and nature relatedness, and negatively predicted authoritarian political views. Further work is needed to investigate the nature of the relationship between the peak psychedelic experience and openness to new experiences, egalitarian political views, and concern for the environment.

Effects of psilocybin therapy on personality structure

“…Recently, administration of the entactogen, 3,4‐methylenedioxy‐methamphetamine (MDMA), in conjunction with psychotherapy has been shown to lead to increases in Openness , as well as decreases in Neuroticism , in patients being treated for post‐traumatic stress disorder . Regular ceremonial use of the psychedelic brew, ayahuasca, was associated with higher Openness scores when compared with matched non‐ayahuasca using controls and self‐reported lifetime recreational psychedelic use correlated positively with Openness scores in a large online survey , as well as in a separate brain imaging trial (D. Erritzoe, under review). Interestingly, in the latter trial, it was the Openness to Actions and Openness to Values subfactors that correlated with lifetime psychedelic use (D. Erritzoe, under review).…”

“…It is well established that trait Openness correlates reliably with liberal political perspective . Given that psychedelics have been found to modulate Openness and other work has shown that Openness and liberal political perspectives are related, it is reasonable to surmise that psychedelics may modulate political perspective also.…”

“…Indeed, work in the past has found associations between psychedelic use and attitudes of ‘personal liberty’ and ‘foreign policy liberalism’ , as well as concern for others, irrespective of culture of origin . Moreover, a series of recent studies have further endorsed a general relationship between psychedelic use and greater pro‐environmental behavior and nature‐relatedness , as well as liberal and antiauthoritarian perspectives . The apparent link between Openness and a generally liberal worldview may be attributed to the notion that people who are more open to new experiences are also less personally constrained by convention and that this freedom of attitude extends into every aspect of a person's life, including their political orientation .…”

DMT Models the Near-Death Experience

“…Relatedly, recent results from studies with psychedelic compounds have shown similar long-term positive changes. For example, reduced death anxiety (Grob et al, 2011; Gasser et al, 2015; Griffiths et al, 2016; Ross et al, 2016), pro-ecological behavior (Forstmann and Sagioglou, 2017; Nour et al, 2017) and nature relatedness (Lyons and Carhart-Harris, 2018), significant clinical improvements in depressed patients (Osório et al, 2015; Carhart-Harris et al, 2016; Palhano-Fontes et al, 2018) and recovering addicts (Johnson et al, 2014; Bogenschutz et al, 2015; Bogenschutz and Johnson, 2016) and lasting improvements in psychological well-being in healthy populations (Griffiths et al, 2011; Carhart-Harris et al, 2017) have all been observed. Thus, overlap between near-death and psychedelic experiences may extend beyond the acute experience into longer-term psychological changes.…”

5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An ego-dissolving endogenous neurochemical catalyst of creativity

“…URL: https://thebulletin.org/2018-doomsday-clock-statement experiences occasioned by psychedelic compounds like 5-MeO-DMT appear to be antagonistic towards the dualistic egocentric paradigm (a narcissistic consumer-mindset) which regards nature as an exploitable resource. In other words, the widely shared and culturally conditioned dualistic psychological perspective which separates man from nature stands in sharp contrast with the interconnected unitive worldview catalyzed by this extraordinary ego-dissolving tryptamine (Carhart-Harris et al, 2018;Lyons & Carhart-Harris, 2018a;Nour, Evans, & Carhart-Harris, 2017). Furthermore, epistemological insights into the nondual ontology of existence (e.g., dual-aspect monism/neutral monism) 47 challenge the core assumptions of contemporary science, viz., the notion of detached objectivity which is de facto a cognitive illusion (Hoffman, 2016;cf.…”