Induces a near-death experience that enhances mystical effects
The psychedelic journey causes near-death experiences similar to those experienced by clinical patients, although it enhances the mystical effects and feelings of contact with people who have died, forever dispelling the fear of the last breath.
In a survey of more than 3,000 adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers compared psychedelic experiences with non-drug-related near-death experiences and found striking similarities in the attitudes toward death of both groups of adults. people.
Survey participants in both groups reported having less fear of death after the experience, whether it was near-death or psychedelic.
positive effects
They also reported that both experiences had a lasting positive effect on each of the groups, providing spiritual meaning and psychological insight. The results of this research have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.
A psychedelic drug is a psychotropic whose main action is to alter the cognition and perception of the mind, giving rise to non-ordinary perceptions, generally considered illusions, hallucinations, etc.
Near-death experiences or NDEs are generally lucid, recounted by people who have nearly died or who have experienced clinical death and survived. They generate sensations of being out of the body, increased sensory perception or a journey through a tunnel, among other manifestations. These experiences are similar all over the world and in people of different cultures.
Previous conclusions
The results obtained in this research are consistent with several recent clinical trials showing that a single treatment with the psychedelic psilocybin produces sustained decreases in anxiety and depression among patients diagnosed with life-threatening cancer.
The most important of these trials (Griffiths et al., 2016) was conducted at Johns Hopkins Medicine by the same authors of the new research.
That previous study, which developed a randomized trial of 51 cancer patients who had clinically significant anxiety or depressive symptoms, showed that receiving a controlled high dose of psilocybin, administered with supportive psychotherapy, resulted in significant increases in acceptance ratings of psilocybin. death, as well as reductions in anxiety about expiration.
new studio
In the new study, researchers analyzed data collected from 3,192 people who responded to an online survey conducted between December 2015 and April 2018.
The participants were divided into groups: 933 people had non-drug-related near-death experiences and the rest of the participants had psychedelic experiences, which were triggered by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) (904), psilocybin (766 ), ayahuasca (282) or N,N -dimethyltryptamine (DMT) (307).
The participants were predominantly white (85%) and mostly from the United States. Compared to the drug-free group, there were more men in the psychedelic group (78% vs. 32%) and they tended to be younger (32 vs. 55 years) at the time of the experience.
surprising similarities
About 90% of participants in both groups reported a decrease in fear of death, when considering changes in their views from before to after the experience.
Most participants in both groups (drug-free group, 85%; psychedelic group, 75%) rated the experience as one of the five most personally and spiritually important in their lives.
Participants in both groups also reported moderate to strong persistent positive changes in personal well-being and life purpose and meaning.
Categorical differences
The drug-free NDE group was more likely to report being life-threatening during the experience (47% vs. psychedelic group, 3%), to be medically unconscious (36% vs. psychedelic group, 10%) or being clinically dead (21% versus the psychedelic group, less than 1%).
The drug-free group was also more likely to report that their experience was very brief, lasting five minutes or less (40%, vs. the psychedelic group, 7%).
The researchers say that more future studies are needed to better understand the potential clinical use of psychedelics to alleviate suffering related to fear of death.
mystical experience?
Another relevant fact: those who lived a near-death experience using psychedelics are more likely to meet the criteria of having had a complete “mystical experience” than the participants in the group of those who lived that experience without the need for drugs. .
Going into more detail about these experiences, the authors state that “around half of both groups endorsed having” encountered something someone might call ‘God’, although this was significantly higher in the psychedelic group than in the drug-free group ( 56 percent vs. 48 percent).
The feeling of “rebirth” was also significantly more common in the psychedelic group, although the drug-free group reported higher rates of “compelling feelings of gaining information extrasensory” and “feelings of contact with people who have died.”
different psychedelics
Comparing different psychedelics, the researchers found that those who ingested ayahuasca or DMT were more likely to have a genuine NDE than those who had taken LSD or psilocybin.
Ayahuasca and DMT also tended to trigger a “biological birth reliving sensation” and generally led to more positive attitude and lifestyle changes than LSD or psilocybin.
Commenting on these findings, study author Roland Griffiths explains: “The characteristics of psychedelic experiences may not only be similar to near-death experiences, but they rank among the most significant life experiences: both produce similar long-lasting reductions in fear of death and increases in well-being.”
Reference
Comparison of psychedelic and near-death or other non-ordinary experiences in changing attitudes about death and dying. Mary M. Sweeney et al. PLOS ONE, August 24, 2022. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271926