From Egoism to Ecoism: Psychedelics Increase Nature Relatedness in a State-Mediated and Context-Dependent Manner

A prospective survey study (n=654) established a (weak to moderate) causal link between the use of psychedelics and nature relatedness. This was mediated by the extend of ego-death and perceived relatedness to nature during the psychedelic experience. This paper argues that psychedelics may bring us closer to nature and that this might be a possible positive outcome that restores mental health, or at least is correlated with this.

Abstract

Background: There appears to be a growing disconnection between humans and their natural environments which has been linked to poor mental health and ecological destruction. Previous research suggests that individual levels of nature relatedness can be increased through the use of classical psychedelic compounds, although a causal link between psychedelic use and nature relatedness has not yet been established.

Methods: Using correlations and generalized linear mixed regression modelling, we investigated the association between psychedelic use and nature relatedness in a prospective online study. Individuals planning to use a psychedelic received questionnaires 1 week before (N = 654), plus one day, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 years after a psychedelic experience.

Results: The frequency of lifetime psychedelic use was positively correlated with nature relatedness at baseline. Nature relatedness was significantly increased 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 years after the psychedelic experience. This increase was positively correlated with concomitant increases in psychological well-being and was dependent on the extent of ego-dissolution and the perceived influence of natural surroundings during the acute psychedelic state.

Conclusions: The here presented evidence for a context- and state-dependent causal effect of psychedelic use on nature relatedness bears relevance for psychedelic treatment models in mental health and, in the face of the current ecological crisis, planetary health.”

Authors: Hannes Kettner, Sam Gandy, Eline C. H. M. Haijen & Robin L. Carhart-Harris

Notes

This work builds further on the very small experimental (open-label) study in 2018 by Lyons and Carhart-Harris. Although the current study was less controlled, it did have a more ‘normal’ population and it was prospective (not only asking about nature-relatedness after the fact).

One common denominator between this paper and others is the lack of connection that people with mental disorders feel. If anything, psychedelics increase connectedness. And in this specific case it was found to increase this in relation to nature.

Nature relatedness is defined as follows “…as one’s level of self-identification and subjective sense of connectedness with nature. It is analogous to the concept of “biophilia”, which is defined as “the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.”

Do note the questions of the nature relatedness scale (NR-6 – short version used, based on the NR-13).

  1. My ideal vacation spot would be a remote, wilderness area
  2. I always think about how my actions affect the environment
  3. My connection to nature and the environment is a part of my spirituality
  4. I take notice of wildlife wherever I am
  5. My relationship to nature is an important part of who I am
  6. I feel very connected to all living things and the earth”

The change for participants in nature relatedness was from 4.01 to 4.13 (at 2 and 4 weeks post). Although this is a significant result, it’s good to keep in mind that the effect size was weak to moderate (r = 0.250 to 0.331 at 4 and 2 weeks post).

In the discussion the authors state the following: “The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychedelic use and nature relatedness using online surveys and a prospective cohort design. Our primary hypothesis of increased nature relatedness following a psychedelic experience was confirmed, providing the first empirical evidence for a causative role of psychedelic use in the enhancement of nature relatedness in a large sample of healthy participants.

Further on in the discussion, it’s interesting to read that openness to experience may be an underlying explanation of the slightly higher base-scores of the participants in the study (who hadn’t used psychedelics before) and the general population (4.01 vs 3.00-3.14 for the general population). And that of the even higher score on nature relatedness of people who had used psychedelics before (>100x lifetime use, 4.45).

There were several limitations to the study, especially the last may skew the results more than could be reasonably assumed “Most significantly, the recruitment criterion of intent to take a psychedelic substance led to a positive sample bias towards psychedelic use and likely also greater openness towards new experiences in general. In addition, the sample was highly educated and predominantly male, further impairing the generalisability of the present findings. As discussed above, attrition bias may have skewed the sample at later time points into a more positive direction, especially so for the two-year follow-up (n=64).”

Summary

Article

A prospective online study investigated the association between psychedelic use and nature relatedness. The study found that nature relatedness was positively correlated with the frequency of lifetime psychedelic use, and that nature relatedness was significantly increased 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 years after the psychedelic experience.

  1. Introduction

Humans are becoming more disconnected from the natural world, and this is linked to poor mental health and ecological neglect and destruction. Identifying an effective way of enhancing nature connectedness would potentially be of great benefit to human well-being and the environment at large.

1.1. Psychedelics

Mental illnesses such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar personality disorder, and eating disorders have been linked to feelings of psychological or social disconnection. Psychedelics can increase the sense of connectedness. Classical psychedelics are compounds that act on the serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor and have profound effects on human consciousness. They are non-addictive, have low physiological toxicity and have been used for celebration, healing and divination purposes for centuries. Psychedelic drug use was widespread in the 1960s, and coincided with the rapid growth and expansion of the environmental movement. Several recent studies have observed that psychedelics can increase people’s feelings of nature connectedness.

1.2. Effects of Nature Relatedness on Psychological Wellbeing and Pro-Environmental Behaviour

Nature relatedness can be described as one’s level of self-identification and subjective sense of connectedness with nature. It has been found to be associated with improved psychological health and well-being, including lower levels of anxiety, greater perceived meaning in life, higher vitality, higher psychological functioning, greater happiness and positive affect.

Nature relatedness is distinct from nature exposure or immersion, and has been shown to correlate with time spent in nature and engagement with nature-based activities. It has also been shown to mediate the effect of nature exposure on affect and well-being.

1.3. Health Effects of Nature Exposure

A large-scale study of 19,806 people in the UK found that regular contact with nature was associated with good physical health and high subjective well-being. Nature exposure was also found to reduce stress hormone markers, such as cortisol levels, and improve the functioning of the immune system. Contact with nature is associated with greater measures of hedonic well-being, including positive affect and a moderate decrease in negative affect.

Nature exposure is associated with improved directed-attention abilities, increased attentional capacity, positive emotions, and the ability to reflect on a life problem, as well as decreased anxiety, decreased stress, increased vitality, psychological restoration, and enhanced prosocial orientation and net positive affect.

1.4. Psychedelics and Nature Relatedness

Anecdotal reports of psychedelic experiences often include feelings of connectedness with nature, and subjects reporting a dissolution of boundaries and awe-inducing feelings of unity with nature during peak psychedelic effects.

Psilocybin is linked to enhanced well-being and prosociality, and a follow up study reported that participants’ appreciation for life and nature was enhanced 24 – 27 years after their psilocybin experience.

A recent clinical study found that psilocybin therapy for treatment resistant depression had positive effects in the weeks following treatment, with participants reporting a renewed sense of connectedness as a mediating factor.

An individual’s acute experience under a psychedelic is predictive of subsequent long-term psychological outcomes. The experience of oceanic boundlessness, oneness, and the loss of self-world boundaries are reliably occasioned by high doses of psychedelics.

In one study, lifetime psychedelic use was predictive of higher ratings on the personality traits of openness, liberal political views, and also nature relatedness, and the experience of ego-dissolution during people’s most intense psychedelic experience was also predicted positively.

Ayahuasca users reported an increase in nature connection and environmental concern following their psychedelic experiences, and 38% of psilocybin users reported enduring positive changes in their relationship to the environment 8 – 16 months post-experience.

The association between psychedelic use and nature relatedness is less clear, but a recent appendix to a clinical trial with psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression suggests a causative influence of psychedelic use on nature relatedness.

The present study aimed to collect data on multiple time points before and after a psychedelic experience from healthy individuals to better understand the relationship between nature relatedness and psychedelic use.

Nature relatedness was expected to increase following psychedelic use, and would be correlated with psychological well-being. Ego-dissolution, mystical-type, but not challenging experiences, and visual effects were not expected to be predictive of nature relatedness.

2.1. Design

Through online advertisements on drug-related websites, individuals who were planning to use psilocybin/magic mushrooms/truffles, LSD/1P-LSD, ayahuasca, DMT/5-MeO-DMT, Salvia divinorum, mescaline, or iboga/ibogaine were invited to sign up for the study.

2.2. Measures

Demographics, psychological well-being, nature relatedness, and lifetime psychedelic drug use were measured at baseline.

One day after the psychedelic experience, measures of acute subjective drug effects and setting variables were collected. These included the mystical experience questionnaire, the ego-dissolution inventory, and the challenging experience questionnaire.

2.3. Statistical Analysis

We used confirmatory generalized linear mixed regression models to assess the longitudinal change in NR-6 scores from before to after the psychedelic experience. The models were able to accommodate skewed data using gamma regression, which was used in the present study. To test the hypothesis that psychedelic experiences would affect nature relatedness, a GLMM was constructed with NR-6 as the dependent variable. A two-year follow-up was included to account for potential long-term effects.

Two-tailed Pearson correlations were calculated between nature relatedness and well-being at the two-week and four-week endpoints.

To investigate predictors of changes in nature relatedness, time and the interactions of time with measures of mystical-type experiences, ego-dissolution, challenging experiences, visual effects, and perceived influence of access to nature were included in a secondary GLMM. To further corroborate the findings from this restricted sample GLMM, two-tailed Pearson correlations were calculated between the predictor variables and NR-6 difference scores.

  1. Results

A total of 654 participants completed the baseline survey. Their demographic information is reported in Table 1.

3.1. Nature Relatedness at Baseline

The mean nature relatedness score of participants was 4.01 (SD = 0.87), and there was a moderate but highly significant positive correlation between lifetime psychedelic use and nature relatedness at baseline.

3.2. Changes in Nature Relatedness

A first confirmatory GLMM revealed that nature relatedness increased post-psychedelic use, and that this increase did not change between two weeks and four weeks.

Pearson correlations between nature relatedness and well-being revealed significant positive associations between nature relatedness and well-being.

3.3. Predictors of Nature Relatedness Change

Results show that ego-dissolution, challenging experiences, visual effects, and perceived influence of nature were the strongest predictors of nature relatedness change across the entire sample, although the effect was reduced after restricting the analysis to individuals with baseline NR-6 scores below the mean of 4.01.

Pearson correlations between the predictor variables and the change scores were significant for two of the five predictor variables, namely ego-dissolution and influence of nature, but not mystical-type, challenging, or visual experiences.

3.4. Long-Term Changes in Nature Relatedness

A confirmatory GLMM was repeated two years after the experience to assess the effects of time on nature relatedness. The results showed that nature relatedness was increased two weeks and four weeks after the experience, when compared with baseline. Of the 64 participants, 47 reported having had at least one additional psychedelic experience since the previous time-point. The number of additional experiences did not correlate significantly with the number of additional psychedelic experiences.

  1. Discussion

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychedelic use and nature relatedness in a large sample of healthy participants. It was found that ego-dissolution and natural settings are important mediators of increased nature relatedness following psychedelic use.

4.1. Nature Relatedness and Lifetime Psychedelic Use

In the current sample, nature relatedness was higher than in demographically similar populations reported by Nisbet and Zelenski, even prior to psychedelic use. This difference may be explained by the psychedelic-experienced nature of the current sample. Openness has been found to be correlated with nature relatedness, and openness has been found to be correlated with psychedelic use. Nature relatedness is positively correlated with personality traits such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experiences, and negatively correlated with neuroticism.

Despite the relatively high values already present at baseline, nature relatedness was significantly increased after the psychedelic experience across the entire sample of healthy participants. This increase was furthermore sustained after two years.

Increased feelings of nature relatedness are a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop that have been identified in other well-being related behaviours. This increase might be explained by an ageing effect, an attrition bias, or subsequent psychedelic experiences.

Nature relatedness was found to be positively correlated with psychological well-being in numerous studies, and psychedelics can act as biophilia enhancing agents.

In line with earlier findings, nature relatedness was positively correlated with lifetime use of classical psychedelics, and was also positively correlated with the extent of ego-dissolution experienced during participants’ “most intense” past psychedelic experience. This suggests that psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution may play a mediational role for changes in nature relatedness.

A strong correlation was observed between the experience of ego-dissolution and the mystical-type experience, which may be due to the presence of awe. Awe is a component of the experience of wonder, transcendence, prosociality, and unity with nature, and has been found to be conducive to both well-being and prosociality. Awe is also considered an important component and mediator of the so-called “overview effect”.

We investigated whether the natural settings present during a psychedelic experience could influence future changes in nature relatedness. We found that the perceived influence of access to nature was positively associated with changes in nature relatedness, at least in participants with below-average nature relatedness at baseline.

In spite of low lighting, carefully selected music and empathic guides present, a long-term increase in nature-relatedness was observed in a therapeutic setting that was otherwise far from being nature-enriched.

Psychedelics are strictly controlled and criminalized over much of the world, and research is often conducted in medically monitored hospital environments. Mindfulness meditation can enhance the positive effects of psilocybin while counteracting potential dysphoric or anxiety reactions. Natural settings may affect psychedelic-induced nature-relatedness changes, and may benefit the individual and society by increasing environmental concern and associated pro-environmental behaviours. A recent online study found that people’s degree of nature relatedness, particularly their self-identification with nature, strongly predicted self-reported pro-environmental behaviours. However, self-identification with nature may also increase depression, anxiety or stress as a result of increased environmental concern and awareness of local and global ecological degradation.

4.6. Study Limitations and Future Research

The web-based observational nature of the here described online survey has several limitations, including a positive sample bias towards psychedelic use and likely also greater openness towards new experiences in general. The lack of experimental control is a particularly well recognised limitation of observational studies, and future research may attempt to gain more fine-grained assessments of the actual surroundings. However, the results presented here make a strong case for the potential value of controlled studies with psychedelics in natural environments. Future studies should consider including introspective attitudinal as well as behavioural measures of environmental concern, as well as related concepts such as consumerism and lifestyle choices, to avoid common methods bias.

4.7. Societal and Ecological Relevance

It is widely accepted that humans have entered a sixth mass extinction event, and that we must reconnect humans with nature and heal the sense of alienation from it. Policy makers and other individuals and organisations with significant influence must take responsibility for ensuring ecological justice. As a man-made crisis, climate change is also a deeply psychological subject. Psychedelics can help to overcome environmental melancholia by enhancing human-nature relatedness.

  1. Conclusions

This paper reports on findings that suggest a positive association between psychedelic use and nature relatedness. Additionally, the study found that the acute subjective experience of ego-dissolution and the environmental context of the psychedelic experience positively predicted increases in nature relatedness post-psychedelic.

Linked Research Papers

Notable research papers that build on or are influenced by this paper

Among psychedelic-experienced users, only past use of psilocybin reliably predicts nature relatedness
This reanalysis of survey data (n=3817) finds that nature-relatedness (NR) is only predicted by past use of psilocybin. As the surveys are observations, the question is still out if the pharmacology or the way people use different psychedelics (setting) is driving this result.

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