A new study published by researchers from the Johns Hopkins’ Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research shows that psilocybin produces lasting improvements in mental health symptoms and general wellbeing.
“Naturalistic psilocybin use is associated with persisting improvements in mental health and wellbeing” is the largest survey of naturalistic psilocybin use to date, and the results support other data on psilocybin’s effectiveness.
- A sample of 2,833 respondents completed assessments 2 weeks before psilocybin use; 1,182 completed the 2–4 week post-use survey; and 657 completed the final follow-up survey 2–3 months after psilocybin use.
- Participants primarily used dried psilocybin mushrooms (mean dose = 3.1 grams) for “self-exploration” purposes.
- data collected before and after the psilocybin experience on average showed persisting reductions in anxiety, depression, and alcohol misuse, increased cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation, spiritual well-being, and extraversion, and reduced neuroticism and burnout after psilocybin use.
We’ll leave it to Johns Hopkins to give us more context on the study. See their thread below.
Respondents planning to use psilocybin for self-exploration participated in a longitudinal survey study, measured at baseline (n=2833), 1-3 days post psilocybin (n=1551), 2-4wks post (n=1182), and 2-3mo post (n=657). Respondents were mostly white and college educated. 2/7
— Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Center (@JHPsychedelics) September 19, 2023
On average, participants showed significant reductions in depressed mood, anxiety, and personal burnout, and significant increases in cognitive flexibility and spiritual well-being that were still detectable up to 2 months after the experience. 3/7 pic.twitter.com/0astApfHiA
— Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Center (@JHPsychedelics) September 19, 2023
These experiences were rated as less meaningful than those we tend to see in the lab. 5/7 pic.twitter.com/PgKiJfIR5C
— Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Center (@JHPsychedelics) September 19, 2023
