Meditation and psychedelics facilitate similar types of mystical, psychological, and philosophical-existential insights predictive of wellbeing: a qualitative-quantitative approach.

Jussi Jylkkä; Hilla Väyrynen; Enyu Lin; Catharina Walldén; Andreas Krabbe; Juuso Kähönen; Pilleriin Sikka

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2025.103901

Meditation and psychedelics facilitate similar types of mystical, psychological, and philosophical-existential insights predictive of wellbeing: a qualitative-quantitative approach.

Jussi Jylkkä, Hilla Väyrynen, Enyu Lin, Catharina Walldén, Andreas Krabbe, Juuso Kähönen, Pilleriin Sikka

Consciousness and Cognition July 7, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2025.103901 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract

Characteristics	Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Sample size	213
Population	People reporting personally meaningful psychedelic (n=147) or meditation (n=66) experiences
Topics	Meditation
Keywords	Profound personal insights Transformative insights Deep insights Mystical revelations Psychological revelations Philosophical revelations Enhanced wellbeing Meditation practices Psychedelics Personal transformation Positive shifts Profoundly benefit individuals
Citations	3
Key findings	Both psychedelic and meditation experiences yielded a broad range of insights across mystical-type, psychological, and philosophical-existential themes, with mystical-type insights more frequent in meditation reports and value insights more common in psychedelic reports. Metacognitive and value insights were positively associated with perceived improvements in positive affect, while mystical-type insights predicted increased meaning in life. The authors argue transformative experiences are not exclusive to classic psychedelics.

Abstract

Both psychedelic substances and meditation have been proposed to facilitate personally meaningful and transformative experiences, with insights playing a central role. However, previous research has mainly relied on questionnaires, limiting the range of insights that can be identified. In this study, we recruited participants who provided narrative reports of insights in personally meaningful psychedelic (n = 147) or meditation (n = 66) experiences. Psychedelic experiences were facilitated both by classic (e.g., LSD, psilocybin, DMT) as well as non-classic (e.g., MDMA, ketamine, cannabis) psychedelics. Qualitative analysis revealed three main insight themes: Mystical-type (subclasses Unity, Metaphysical, and Other), Psychological (subclasses Metacognitive, Value, and Compassion), and Philosophical-existential (subclasses Purpose, Value, and Other). Mystical-type insights were more frequent in reports of meditation experiences, while value insights were more common in psychedelic reports. Otherwise, the reported insights were highly similar across the two types of reports, and only minor differences were observed between classic and non-classic psychedelics. Regression analyses indicated that metacognitive and value insights were positively associated with perceived improvements in positive affect, while mystical-type insights predicted increased meaning in life. These findings suggest that both psychedelic substances and meditation can facilitate a broad range of insights that are not fully captured by existing questionnaires. The results highlight similarities between psychedelic and meditation experiences supporting the notion that transformative experiences are not exclusive to classic psychedelics but can be facilitated through various means.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study	Year	Design	Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan...	2017	Qualitative study with mixed-methods
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system	2004	Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety	2006	Exploratory mixed methods study	n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context	2001	Qualitative study	n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators	2013	Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

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