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Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review

The mystical experience is a potential psychological mechanism to influence outcome in psychedelic therapy. It includes features such as oceanic boundlessness, ego dissolution, and universal interconnectedness, which have been closely linked to both symptom reduction and improved quality of life. In...

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Autores principales: Ko, Kwonmok, Knight, Gemma, Rucker, James J., Cleare, Anthony J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9340494/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35923458
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.917199
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author Ko, Kwonmok
Knight, Gemma
Rucker, James J.
Cleare, Anthony J.
author_facet Ko, Kwonmok
Knight, Gemma
Rucker, James J.
Cleare, Anthony J.
author_sort Ko, Kwonmok
collection PubMed
description The mystical experience is a potential psychological mechanism to influence outcome in psychedelic therapy. It includes features such as oceanic boundlessness, ego dissolution, and universal interconnectedness, which have been closely linked to both symptom reduction and improved quality of life. In this review, 12 studies of psychedelic therapy utilizing psilocybin, ayahuasca, or ketamine were analyzed for association between mystical experience and symptom reduction, in areas as diverse as cancer-related distress, substance use disorder, and depressive disorders to include treatment-resistant. Ten of the twelve established a significant association of correlation, mediation, and/or prediction. A majority of the studies are limited, however, by their small sample size and lack of diversity (gender, ethnic, racial, educational, and socioeconomic), common in this newly re-emerging field. Further, 6 out of 12 studies were open-label in design and therefore susceptible to bias. Future studies of this nature should consider a larger sample size with greater diversity and thus representation by use of randomized design. More in-depth exploration into the nature of mystical experience is needed, including predictors of intensity, in order to maximize its positive effects on treatment outcome benefits and minimize concomitant anxiety. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO, identifier CRD42021261752.
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spelling pubmed-93404942022-08-02 Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review Ko, Kwonmok Knight, Gemma Rucker, James J. Cleare, Anthony J. Front Psychiatry Psychiatry The mystical experience is a potential psychological mechanism to influence outcome in psychedelic therapy. It includes features such as oceanic boundlessness, ego dissolution, and universal interconnectedness, which have been closely linked to both symptom reduction and improved quality of life. In this review, 12 studies of psychedelic therapy utilizing psilocybin, ayahuasca, or ketamine were analyzed for association between mystical experience and symptom reduction, in areas as diverse as cancer-related distress, substance use disorder, and depressive disorders to include treatment-resistant. Ten of the twelve established a significant association of correlation, mediation, and/or prediction. A majority of the studies are limited, however, by their small sample size and lack of diversity (gender, ethnic, racial, educational, and socioeconomic), common in this newly re-emerging field. Further, 6 out of 12 studies were open-label in design and therefore susceptible to bias. Future studies of this nature should consider a larger sample size with greater diversity and thus representation by use of randomized design. More in-depth exploration into the nature of mystical experience is needed, including predictors of intensity, in order to maximize its positive effects on treatment outcome benefits and minimize concomitant anxiety. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO, identifier CRD42021261752. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-07-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9340494/ /pubmed/35923458 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.917199 Text en Copyright © 2022 Ko, Knight, Rucker and Cleare. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Ko, Kwonmok
Knight, Gemma
Rucker, James J.
Cleare, Anthony J.
Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
title Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
title_full Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
title_fullStr Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
title_short Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
title_sort psychedelics, mystical experience, and therapeutic efficacy: a systematic review
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9340494/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35923458
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.917199
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