Psychedelic Use Among Psychiatric Medication Prescribers: Effects on Well-Being, Depression, Anxiety, and Associations with Patterns of Use, Reported Harms, and Transformative Mental States.
Zachary Herrmann, Adam W. Levin, Steven P Cole, Sarah Slabaugh, Brian S. Barnett, Andrew Penn, Rakesh Jain, Charles L. Raison, Bhavya Rajanna, Saundra Jain
Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) September 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1089/psymed.2023.0030 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional online survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 228 |
| Population | Healthcare providers who treat psychiatric disorders with medications and have at least one lifetime psychedelic use |
| Intervention | psychedelic use |
| Topics | Anxiety Depression Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Prescriber Mental-health Psychedelics-therapy Healthcare-providers Clinical-wellness Psychiatric-treatment |
| Citations | 9 |
| Registration | NCT04040582 |
| Key findings | Psychedelic use was associated with improvements in depression, anxiety, well-being, suicidality, and resilience among healthcare providers who treat psychiatric disorders with medications. |
Abstract
Mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicide, and burnout are common among health care providers. Resilience and well-being are factors thought to protect against these incidents. Clinical trials and naturalistic studies of psychedelic compounds have shown decreases in depression, anxiety, and suicidality while suggesting improvements in well-being. This secondary analysis of a large cross-sectional online survey consisting of participants with at least one lifetime psychedelic use sought to examine how use affects health care providers who treat psychiatric disorders with medications. In total, 228 respondents retrospectively completed measures of depression, anxiety, and well-being before and after psychedelic exposure. They also reported lifetime use, harms attributed to use, and preferred psychedelic agent. Psychedelic use was associated with improvements in depression, anxiety, and well-being. Reported suicidality decreased and resilience increased. A factor analysis suggested that a cluster of mystical, interpersonal, and personal items predicted improvement in depression, anxiety, well-being, suicidality, and resilience. Preferred psychedelic agent did not affect outcomes. Frequency of use was not associated with outcomes although differences in effect sizes were seen. Harm reported was consistent with the general population, with 13.2% (n = 30) reporting at least one harm. Pre-exposure alcohol use, aggressive impulses, and desire to die by suicide improved most often while marijuana use most often worsened or did not change. These results are consistent with clinical trials and naturalistic studies examining psychedelic use in the general population and suggest that health care providers who treat psychiatric disorders with medications may benefit from psychedelic use, although some harm was reported. Given the current mental health crisis among health care providers, further research is warranted to examine whether interventions utilizing psychedelics could improve well-being and effectiveness of health care providers while decreasing adverse mental health outcomes associated with working in health care. ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT04040582).
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on psilocybin for anxiety, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Challenging Experience Questionnaire: Characterization of challenging experiences with psilocybin mushrooms Internet survey respondents reporting challenging experiences with psilocybin | 2016 | Questionnaire development and validation | |
| Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study Adult population in the United States | 2013 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 130,152 |
| Microdosing psychedelics: Motivations, subjective effects and harm reduction People aged 16 years or older who had used psychedelics and could comprehend written... | 2019 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 525 |
| People of color in North America report improvements in racial trauma and mental health symptoms following psychedelic experiences Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in the US and Canada | 2020 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 313 |
| Naturalistic psilocybin use is associated with persisting improvements in mental health and wellbeing: results from a prospective, longitudinal survey Adults planning to take psilocybin outside clinical research, primarily... | 2023 | Prospective longitudinal survey | n = 2,833 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Psychedelic substitution: altered substance use patterns following psychedelic use in a global survey. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2024
- Personal Psychedelic Experience as a Training Qualification for Facilitators: A Thematic Analysis of Qualitative Interviews with Psilocybin Experts Journal of Psychoactive Drugs September 13, 2024
- The Epidemiology of Psychedelic Use Among United States Military Veterans Journal of Psychoactive Drugs September 12, 2024
Cites 16
- Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression. The New England journal of medicine November 3, 2022
- Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of prosocial attitudes and behaviors Journal of Psychopharmacology October 11, 2017
- Predicting Responses to Psychedelics: A Prospective Study Frontiers in Pharmacology November 2, 2018
- Efficacy and safety of psilocybin-assisted treatment for major depressive disorder: Prospective 12-month follow-up Journal of Psychopharmacology February 1, 2022
- Single-dose psilocybin-assisted therapy in major depressive disorder: A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised clinical trial. EClinicalMedicine February 1, 2023
and 11 more in the library