This survey (n=319) of psychedelic users measured personality traits using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and a simplified Risk Taking Index (RTI). The study finds participants scored higher than norms on all Big Five traits except Extraversion, and on all dimensions of risk-taking. Personality structure was linked to psychedelic experience characteristics such as feelings of fear, love, peace, and perceptions of contact with transcendent forces.
Abstract of The psychedelic personality
“Research on the relationship between personality and psychedelics use has found evidence of a two-way influence where the personality structure predicts individual responses to psychedelics, and psychedelics use results in lasting changes to the individual’s personality structure. This study used brief personality measures in the form of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and a simplified version of the Risk Taking Index (RTI) in order to measure personality traits in a sample of psychedelics users (N = 319). The participants in the study scored consistently higher than norms on each of the Big Five traits except Extraversion, and on every dimension of risk taking in the RTI. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, personality structure was associated with characteristics of the psychedelic experience that included the feelings of fear, love, and peace as well as states of perceived contact with non-ordinary beings and transcendent forces.”
Author: Petter G. Johnstad
Summary of The psychedelic personality: Personality structure and associations in a sample of psychedelics users
The introduction discusses previous research on the relationship between personality and psychedelic use. This research has found evidence of a bidirectional influence, where personality structure predicts individual responses to psychedelics, and psychedelic use results in lasting changes to personality structure.
Earlier investigations established that individual responses to psychedelic drugs depended at least in part on personality structure. More recent research has found that the personality trait of Absorption, which is associated with the Big Five trait of Openness, strongly predicts mystical-type experiences and visual effects induced by psilocybin. Some studies have also found that Neuroticism predicts difficult psychedelic experiences.
Other research has focused on the long-term impact of psychedelic use on personality structure. Several studies have found that Openness increases after psychedelic sessions, particularly in participants who had mystical experiences. Some research has also found increases in Extraversion and decreases in Neuroticism after psilocybin therapy.
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https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1842569
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Cite this paper (APA)
Johnstad, P. G. (2021). The psychedelic personality: Personality structure and associations in a sample of psychedelics users. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 53(2), 97-103.
