This secondary analysis of an RCT (n=30) found that a DMT/harmine combination (pharmahuasca) significantly impaired convergent thinking while showing trend-level reductions in divergent thinking fluency and elaboration. It also uniquely disrupted creative process transitions from incubation to illumination during a real-world painting task, suggesting that psychedelics alter creative pathways rather than uniformly enhance creativity.
Abstract of Ayahuasca-inspired DMT/harmine formulation alters creative thinking dynamics during artistic creation
“Background: While psychedelics are often claimed to enhance creativity, their precise effects on distinct stages of creative cognition remain poorly understood. This study investigated the acute effects of an ayahuasca-inspired formulation combining N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and harmine (DMT/HAR), as well as harmine alone (HAR), on micro-level (divergent/convergent thinking) and macro-level (creative process dynamics) creativity.
Methods: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design, 30 healthy male participants completed three sessions (DMT/HAR, HAR, placebo). Micro-level creativity was assessed using the picture concept task (convergent thinking) and alternative uses task (divergent thinking). Macro-level dynamics were examined through a real-world painting task using the creative process report diary, which captured dynamic stage transitions. Subjective experiences were also recorded to explore their predictive value for creativity.
Results: DMT/HAR significantly impaired convergent thinking, particularly in individuals with higher baseline reasoning. Divergent thinking showed no overall effect but revealed trend-level reductions in fluency and elaboration under DMT/HAR. At the macro-level, both DMT/HAR and HAR reduced incubation-related transitions, while DMT/HAR uniquely decreased transitions from incubation to illumination, suggesting altered pathways to insight. Subjective experiences such as altered meaning perception and increased insightfulness selectively predicted divergent, but not convergent, thinking outcomes.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the effects of DMT/HAR on creativity are not uniform. By capturing real-world creative behavior through an ecologically valid painting task, this study offers the first evidence that psychedelics influence not only creative cognition but also the dynamic processes that give rise to it. These findings highlight the importance of integrating cognitive, phenomenological and process-level perspectives to better understand creative thinking under altered states. Future research should further investigate how individual differences in subjective experience and cognitive style modulate the unfolding of creative processes under psychedelics.”
Authors: Dila Suay, Helena D. Aicher, Berit Singer, Michael J. Mueller, Alen Jelusic, Lionel Calzaferri, Paul Springfeld, Dario A. Dornbierer & Milan Scheidegger
Summary of Ayahuasca-inspired DMT/harmine formulation alters creative thinking dynamics during artistic creation
Suay and colleagues open their article by noting the long-standing use of ayahuasca in traditional Amazonian cultures, where it has been valued for its visionary and spiritual effects. Ayahuasca is a brew typically combining DMT, a psychoactive compound, with harmine, a natural substance that inhibits enzymes responsible for breaking down DMT in the body. This combination allows DMT to remain active when taken orally. In recent years, interest has grown in how such substances might influence cognitive processes, including creativity, and how these effects might be harnessed in modern contexts.
The authors highlight that creativity is a complex construct involving divergent thinking (generating many novel ideas) and convergent thinking (selecting and refining the best ideas). Earlier research has shown that psychedelics can enhance aspects of divergent thinking, but the precise mechanisms and their relationship to artistic expression remain underexplored. Given that creativity is not only about producing ideas but also about shaping them into meaningful outputs, understanding how psychedelics affect the full creative process is crucial. Suay and colleagues therefore set out to investigate how an ayahuasca-inspired formulation of DMT combined with harmine might alter the dynamics of creative thinking during real-time artistic creation.
The introduction closes by emphasising the novelty of the approach: rather than testing creativity with standardised tasks alone, the researchers examined how individuals produced and refined works of art under the influence of psychedelics. This design aimed to provide a more ecologically valid picture of how psychedelics interact with creativity in practice.
Methods
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https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811251353256
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Cite this paper (APA)
Suay, D., Aicher, H. D., Singer, B., Mueller, M. J., Jelusic, A., Calzaferri, L., ... & Scheidegger, M. (2025). Ayahuasca-inspired DMT/harmine formulation alters creative thinking dynamics during artistic creation. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 02698811251353256.
Study details
Topics studied
Healthy Subjects
Creativity
Study characteristics
Original Re-analysis
Placebo-Controlled
Double-Blind
Within-Subject
Randomized
Participants
30
Humans
Compound Details
The psychedelics given at which dose and how many times
DMT 30 mg | 1xLinked Research Papers
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