Mystical Experiences in Retrospective Reports of First Times Using a Psychedelic in Finland

This study (n=288) validated the Revised Mystical Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ30) in Finnish. The study found mystical experiences to be associated with positive changes in relationship with nature, oneself, and creativity, with more common mystical experiences at higher dosages.

Authors

  • Hausen, A.
  • Kangaslampi, S.
  • Rauteenmaa, T.

Published

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
individual Study

Abstract

Despite their acutely inebriating and sometimes unpleasant effects, some people report positive changes in life satisfaction, well-being, or mental health after taking psychedelic drugs. One explanation may be the ability of psychedelics to trigger mystical-type experiences. We examined the validity, reliability, and factor structure of a novel Finnish translation of the Revised Mystical Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ30) among 288 people retrospectively reporting on their first time using a psychedelic. We found evidence for internal consistency reliability and preliminary evidence for criterion and discriminant validity of the Finnish MEQ30. A four-factor structure with factors for mystical qualities, positive mood, transcendence, and ineffability had the best, fair to reasonable fit to the data. MEQ30 scores and having a full mystical experience were highly associated with describing the experience as mystical, spiritual, or religious, and as personally significant, and somewhat associated with the experience being sad or difficult. Mystical experiences were especially associated with positive changes in relationships with nature and oneself and in creativity. Mystical experiences were more common with larger doses. Increasing research suggests mystical-type experiences to relate to positive changes after taking psychedelics. The Finnish MEQ30 is able to tap into relevant information about this aspect of people’s psychedelic experiences.

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Research Summary of 'Mystical Experiences in Retrospective Reports of First Times Using a Psychedelic in Finland'

Introduction

Classic psychedelic drugs produce marked acute alterations in perception, cognition, mood and self-experience, effects that can be experienced as uplifting or as frightening and challenging. Earlier research has reported possible longer-term benefits after psychedelic use — for example in well-being, mood, attitudes, and some clinical conditions — and one prominent explanatory hypothesis is that psychedelics sometimes occasion mystical-type experiences similar to those described by religious mystics or meditators. Instruments such as the 43-item Mystical Experiences Questionnaire and its revised 30-item version (MEQ30) have been developed to quantify these phenomena, and previous factor-analytic work on the MEQ30 has suggested a four-factor structure (mystical nature, positive mood, transcendence, ineffability).

Methods

All analyses were done in R (version 3.2.4) using lavaan and psych packages. Internal consistency was evaluated with Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omegas. Criterion and discriminant validity were assessed via bivariate correlations between MEQ30 total scores and single-item ratings, and group differences between those classified as having had a full mystical experience versus not were tested with Welch’s t tests. Confirmatory factor analyses compared four competing structures — the four-factor MEQ30 model, a Hood-based three-factor model, a Stace variant, and a single-factor model — treating Likert responses as ordinal and using WLSMV estimation; CFI, TLI, RMSEA and SRMR were reported and maximum likelihood estimation was used for sensitivity analyses. Exploratory analyses examined links between mystical experience and persisting well-being both via group comparisons and via a latent-variable model in which a latent mystical-experience factor (according to the best-fitting structure) predicted changes in the eight well-being domains; this structural model employed maximum likelihood estimation with 5000 bootstrap draws for standard errors. The study obtained informed consent online and the investigators reported that the project was exempt from prior external ethical review under Finnish guidance.

Results

Persisting changes in well-being: those classified as having had a full mystical experience reported significantly more positive change across all eight self-evaluated domains. The largest group mean differences were for relationship with nature (mean 5.99 vs. 5.03; t(131.25) = 6.87, p < .0001, g = 0.93), creativity (5.66 vs. 4.85; t(117.22) = 5.75, p < .0001, g = 0.83), relationship with self (5.99 vs. 5.19; t(135.92) = 4.82, p < .0001, g = 0.64), and cognition/memory (4.81 vs. 4.15; t(95.46) = 5.01, p < .0001, g = 0.84). In the latent-variable model where a latent mystical-experience factor predicted the eight domains, all associations were statistically significant (all ps < .001). The strongest fully standardised associations were for relationship with nature (β = 0.61), relationship with self (β = 0.51), and creativity (β = 0.49). Model fit for this structural model was reported as χ2(26) = 80.01, CFI = .968, TLI = .920, RMSEA = .085, SRMR = .052.

Discussion

In sum, the authors conclude the Finnish MEQ30 appears to capture aspects of mystical-type experiences occasioned by psychedelics and shows acceptable internal consistency and preliminary validity, but they emphasise that further research with larger, more representative samples, prospective designs, and validated auxiliary measures is needed to confirm the factor structure, establish appropriate cut-offs, and clarify the relationships among dose, difficulty, mystical experience and long-term outcomes.

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RESULTS

We carried out all data processing and analyses using R 3.2.4. We further used the lavaan 0.6-3) and psych 1.7.8 (Revelle 2017) R packages. Because answering all questions was required to proceed forward in the survey, there were no data missing. R scripts are available upon request from the first author. All collected research data are also freely available for any non-commercial research from the first author upon request. We assessed the validity and reliability of the Finnish MEQ30 in several ways. We first calculated Cronbach's alpha (α) and MacDonald's hierarchical (ωh) and total omega (ωtotal) as indicators of internal consistency for subscales and total score on the MEQ30. We then assessed the validity of our translation by looking at bivariate correlations between total scores on the MEQ30 and self-evaluations of whether the experience had included spiritual, religious, or mystical elements and whether it had been personally significant. We compared these correlations to those of MEQ30 total scores with describing the experience as fun, sad, difficult, or pleasant -features that we would not consider as fundamental to a mystical experience. We further compared the mean answers to these questions of those who had experienced a full mystical experience, as indicated by their responses on the MEQ30, with those who had not, using Welch's t tests. Next, we carried out confirmatory factor analyses with three possible multiplefactor structures as well as a single-factor model for the MEQ30, to examine construct validity of the translation and determine which factor structure would show the best fit. The first potential structure was the four-factor model suggested by previous factor analyses, with Mystical, Positive Mood, Transcendence, and Ineffability factors. The second structure tested, dubbed the Hood model, was based on factors derived from the Hood Mysticism Scale, with three factors corresponding to Introvertive, Extrovertive, and Interpretation facets of the experience. A third structure, dubbed the Stace model, was a variation of the Hood model, where items relating to ineffability were part of the Interpretation factor, instead of the Introvertive factor. Finally, we tested a single-factor model where all items load onto the same latent mystical experience factor. As we had Likert-type responses with six alternatives and non-normality in the distribution of responses, we treated responses as ordinal, and used the diagonally weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted estimator (WLSMV) in factor analyses. We report and employ the population-corrected robust CFI, TLI, and RMSEA, as well as the SRMR, as fit indices. Sample-corrected robust versions of the fit indices would be preferable, but are not yet available in statistical packages, to our knowledge. We use these indices mainly to compare the fit of different models, as exact cut-off criteria for acceptable or good fit have not been established for WLSMV estimation, and cut-offs defined for maximum likelihood estimation are not appropriate). We also carried out similar analyses using maximum likelihood estimation as sensitivity analyses. Finally, as exploratory analyses, we examined links between mystical experiences and self-evaluated changes in well-being in two ways. First, we again compared the answers to the well-being questions of those who had experienced a full mystical experience with those who had not, using Welch's t tests. Second, we estimated a latent variable model, where a latent mystical experience variable, indicated by factors of the MEQ30 according to the best fitting factor structure, predicted changes in different facets of self-evaluated well-being. Here, we used maximum likelihood estimation with bootstrapped standard errors based on 5000 draws. We requested informed consent from the participants on the first page of the questionnaire. The collected data did not constitute a register of personal information, as defined by the Finnish Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman. The study was exempt from prior external ethical review, as it did not fulfill any of the conditions set by the Human Sciences Ethics Committee of Tampere Region (Tampere University, 2019) for such review, based on the ethical principles of research with human participants of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (2019). [Insert Tablehere]

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide evidence for internal consistency reliability and preliminary evidence for construct, criterion, and discriminant validity of the Finnish translation of the MEQ30. The four-factor structure suggested for the English version of the scale by earlier research, with factors corresponding to subscales of Ineffability, Transcendence, Positive Mood, and Mystical Qualities, demonstrated the best, fair to reasonable, fit out of the tested alternatives for the translated measure. We also found internal consistency of the factors and total score to be good to excellent. Further, scores on the MEQ30 correlated strongly with participants' self-evaluations of their first experiences with psychedelics as including mystical, spiritual, or religious elements and of being personally significant. Correlations with the experience being fun, sad, or difficult were also significant, but weaker. Similarly, those who we classified as having had a full mystical experience rated their experience as having included much more mystical, spiritual, or religious elements and having been much more personally significant, somewhat sadder and somewhat more difficult. Although positive mood is considered as one aspect of a mystical experience on the MEQ30, those with a full mystical experience did not differ from others in terms of how "fun" or "pleasant" they rated their experience. Overall, these associations tentatively suggest the MEQ30 is able to tap into relevant aspects of mystical-type or peak experiences occasioned by the use of psychedelics in its Finnish translation. We also examined links between mystical experiences and self-evaluated changes in different areas of well-being in the weeks and months following the participants' first use of psychedelics. Those with full mystical experiences reported more positive changes in all areas surveyed, as compared with those without such an experience. Similarly, across all participants, the overall level of mystical quality of the experience predicted more positive changes in all areas surveyed. These associations were strongest for positive changes in relationship with nature, in relationship with oneself, and in creativity. Our findings are in line with previous research, although most studies have looked at more aggregate measures of positive changes in well-being, life satisfaction, or attitudes. Regarding nature relationship specifically,found both lifetime psychedelic use generally and the most intense level mystical-type ego dissolution felt during a psychedelic experience to predict higher nature relatedness in a naturalistic cross-sectional survey. Feelings of connectedness and unity with the world or cosmos during mystical experiences may explain improved and deepened relationship with nature after psychedelic use. As regards creativity, some small studies provide evidence that ayahuasca and psilocybin may improve divergent creative thinking acutely or subacutely, and convergent thinking several days or weeks after ingestion. It is not clear, however, what role mystical experiences might play in promoting creativity. Our findings about a link might also be explained by the general level of intensity of the experience. Overall, the self-evaluated and highly retrospective nature of all these ratings limit the conclusions that can be drawn. In our sample, those with full mystical experiences reported taking larger doses. This finding agrees with previous studies (e.g.,). However, this does not mean "the larger the better" in terms of dosage of psychedelics. Larger doses of psychedelics are also associated with more difficult or challenging experiences, more anxiety, and more acutely impaired cognitionand generally intensify all aspects of the experience. We, too, observed a moderate correlation between mystical-type experiences and the difficulty of the experience, possibly explained by the larger doses involved. Clearly, experiences people later judge as valuable may be very intense and demanding, but it remains to be determined whether particularly difficult or challenging psychedelic experiences are more likely to facilitate beneficial changes afterwards. Apart from dosage,found clear intentions and baseline levels of trait absorption to predict mystical experiences. Studerus et al. (2011) also found absorption, lack of recent psychological problems, and an active, emotionally excitable state prior to intake to predict mystical experiences. Here, we found no differences in demographic factors, the psychedelic used, or location or context of use between those with full mystical experiences and those without. However, the small, self-selected sample precludes any firm conclusions, and we did not assess expectations, intentions, or personality traits. A minority of our participants could be classified as having undergone a full mystical experience when taking a psychedelic for the first time. Still, average scores we observed on the Finnish MEQ30 were somewhat lower than those seen in previous studies using the English (e.g.,and non-validated German versions of the measure. Dosage is likely to explain some of these differences. A quarter of our participants estimated their dose as smaller than average, while all participants in these laboratory studies received average to large doses of psilocybin or LSD. The varied contexts in which our participants took psychedelics were also likely to be less conducive to mystical experiences. It remains to be established whether average ratings tend to be similar using different translations of the measure with similar doses in similar contexts, or whether there might be cultural or translation-related differences that could affect appropriate cut-offs. We chose to focus on first uses of psychedelics in order to gather a sample with a variety of types of experiences, not just particularly significant or memorable ones. However, this meant that retrospective recall bias is a substantial concern. Specifically, experiences during later use occasions are likely to have influenced memories and interpretations of the first time our participants used a psychedelic. Another limitation is that we did not include a question on the general strength or intensity of the drug experience, as some previous studies have done (e.g.,. Such a question would help to separate overall intensity of the effect of psychedelics from their ability to occasion mystical experiences. Further, aside from the MEQ30, we inquired about the nature of the experience and self-reported changes afterwards using simple, individual Likert-type questions in novel translations. These questions did not form validated scales. Accordingly, the converging evidence they provide on the criterion and discriminant validity of the Finnish MEQ30 should be considered preliminary. Our sample was small for a validation study, and especially so for the confirmatory factor analysis. The sample was also unlikely to be a representative of users of psychedelics in Finland, as participation was based on personal interest and Table. Descriptive statistics on Finnish users of psychedelics and their first time using a psychedelic, for all participants and for those who did and did not experience a full mystical experience according to the Mystical Experiences Questionnaire.

Study Details

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