Psychedelics, personality and political perspectives

Transpersonal or mystical experiences, including psychedelic-induced "ego dissolution," are framed as powerful catalysts for lasting psychological change. Nour and colleagues note renewed scientific interest in classical serotonergic psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, DMT/ayahuasca) and in self-transcendent emotions such as awe. Prior population and experimental studies have reported associations between naturalistic psychedelic use and reduced psychological distress and suicidality, higher scores on optimism and spiritual beliefs within some communities, increased concern for others and for the environment, and experimentally induced increases in the personality trait of openness following single-dose controlled sessions. This study aimed to examine associations between lifetime naturalistic psychedelic use and political perspectives, nature relatedness, and two personality traits (openness and conscientiousness) in a large anonymous online sample. The investigators also collected data on lifetime cocaine use and weekly alcohol consumption in order to test specificity, and assessed whether retrospective ratings of ego dissolution during participants' most intense psychedelic experience predicted the same outcomes.

The study used an anonymous online survey administered over four weeks in 2015, approved by the Imperial College Research Ethics Committee. Recruitment occurred via web advertisements on forums, social media and newsletters targeting both psychedelic-interested communities and more general sites. Survey participation was anonymous, estimated to take 38 minutes, and inclusion criteria were age 18 or older and at least one lifetime experience with a classical psychedelic (LSD, psilocybin, DMT/ayahuasca, or mescaline), cocaine, and/or alcohol. IP and geographic data collection were disabled. Participants provided demographic information (age, sex, education) and self-reported drug use (lifetime occasions of psychedelics and cocaine, and weekly alcohol consumption). Political perspectives were measured with two instruments: a single-item 7-point liberalism–conservatism scale, and a five-item subset measuring libertarian–authoritarian tendencies (responses averaged to an authoritarianism score). Nature relatedness was assessed using a validated 6-item scale; openness and conscientiousness were each measured using two items from the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). Retrospective ego-dissolution for the most intense psychedelic experience was measured with the eight-item Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI), using 0–100 visual analogue scales. Participants also rated perceived change in well-being following that experience on a −3 to +3 scale. For analysis, Nour and colleagues used multivariate linear regression to model five dependent variables separately: authoritarianism, liberalism, nature relatedness, openness, and conscientiousness. Predictors in the lifetime-use models were sex (female = 1), mean-centred age, highest educational attainment (1–6), lifetime psychedelic use (number of occasions, coded as the mid-point of the selected range), lifetime cocaine use (similarly quantified), and weekly alcohol consumption (mid-point of selected range). For models testing ego dissolution, independent variables were EDI score, sex, age and education. Spearman's rho measured bivariate correlations. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 (two‑tailed); analyses were performed in MATLAB (2015b).

A total of 893 participants completed the items relevant to demographics, drug use, political perspectives, nature relatedness, and personality. The sample was skewed: most participants were under 30, male, and well educated; half reported more than 10 lifetime psychedelic occasions and about a third more than 10 lifetime cocaine occasions. Median scores indicated a generally liberal political orientation (median = 6 on a 1–7 scale), low authoritarianism (median 1.8 on a 1–5 scale), and high nature relatedness (median 4.2 on a 1–5 scale), openness (median 6.0 on a 1–7 scale) and conscientiousness (median 5.5 on a 1–7 scale). Ethnicity was not reported. Psychometric evaluation of the five-item libertarian–authoritarian subset supported a unidimensional factor structure: the first component explained 51.3% of variance and internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.70). Primary multivariate regression analyses found that lifetime psychedelic use significantly predicted several outcomes after controlling for sex, age and education, lifetime cocaine use, and weekly alcohol consumption. Specifically, greater lifetime psychedelic use was associated with lower authoritarianism and higher liberalism, higher nature relatedness, and higher openness. By contrast, weekly alcohol consumption predicted higher authoritarianism and lower openness and nature relatedness. Lifetime cocaine use positively predicted openness in the full-sample models. An exploratory subgroup analysis among 235 participants who reported exclusive use of either psychedelics or cocaine coded a ‘‘preferential psychedelic use’’ variable (psychedelic-only = 1, cocaine-only = 0). Preferential psychedelic use predicted higher openness (unstandardised coefficient = 0.50, SE = 0.15, p < 0.001) after adjusting for sex, age and education. A subset of 604 participants completed the Ego-Dissolution Inventory for their most intense recalled psychedelic experience; the median elapsed time since that experience was reported as 1–5 years and the median EDI intensity was 76 (interquartile range = 23). In multivariate models including EDI score, ego dissolution negatively predicted authoritarianism and positively predicted liberalism, nature relatedness and openness, controlling for sex, age and education. Participants' retrospective ratings of improved well-being following the experience had a median of +2 ("moderately increased"), and well-being change correlated with EDI score (Spearman rho = 0.37, p < 0.001).

Nour and colleagues interpret their findings as evidence that naturalistic psychedelic use is associated with greater liberalism, lower authoritarianism, higher openness to experience, and stronger nature relatedness in this self-selected online sample. They highlight that ego dissolution ratings for an individual's most intense psychedelic episode displayed the same pattern of associations, supporting the predictive validity of the Ego-Dissolution Inventory and suggesting that a paradigmatic aspect of the psychedelic experience may relate to enduring attitudes and personality differences. The authors situate these results alongside prior experimental work showing increases in openness following controlled psilocybin or LSD sessions, some of which have been linked to mystical or unitive experience intensity. They note theoretical links between ego dissolution, experiences of awe, shifts in attention away from self-concerns, and increased prosocial or egalitarian attitudes and environmental concern. Neurobiological hypotheses are cited proposing that decreased functional segregation (increased global integration) across brain networks during the psychedelic state may underlie subjective reports of oneness. Key limitations acknowledged by the investigators include the cross-sectional design, which precludes causal inference and directionality; a demographically skewed, self‑selected sample that limits generalisability; reliance on retrospective and unverified self-reports of drug use and past experiences; and the use of brief scales that constrain measurement precision. They also note that the Ego-Dissolution Inventory uses the terms "ego" and "self" without formal definitions, though prior work supports a consistent interpretation in this context. The authors state that these limitations would, if anything, be expected to attenuate observed associations. Looking forward, Nour and colleagues recommend experimental longitudinal studies to test causality and investigations using more representative samples to determine whether psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution experiences can produce lasting changes in personality, political attitudes, and environmental concern.