Science & Health
Psychedelic Experiences And Meditation Generate ‘Highly Similar’ Insights Tied To ‘Wellbeing Improvements’, Study Shows
A new study reinforces the idea that there are similarities between psychedelics and meditation, with participants who had personally meaningful experiences with either activity reporting “highly similar” insights that “predict wellbeing improvements.”
“Mystical-type insights were more frequent in reports of meditation experiences, while value insights were more common in psychedelic reports,” says the report, published in the August issue of the journal Consciousness and Cognition. “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.”
Researchers reviewed 213 narrative reports, including 147 from participants who reported meaningful experiences with psychedelics and 66 from people who’d had meaningful meditation experiences. For the purposes of the study, psychedelics were separated into classic (including LSD, psilocybin and DMT) and non-classic (MDMA, ketamine and cannabis) categories.
“The results highlight similarities between psychedelic and meditation experiences,” the report says, “supporting the notion that transformative experiences are not exclusive to classic psychedelics but can be facilitated through various means.”
“Insights were highly similar between meditation and psychedelics… Metacognitive, mystical, and value insights predict wellbeing improvements.”
The study was authored by a seven-person team representing Åbo Akademi University, the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki, in Finland; the University of Skövde in Sweden; and Stanford University in the United States.
Both meditation and psychedelics facilitated what researchers called a “broad range of insights,” which were categorized into “Mystical-type (subclasses Unity, Metaphysical, and Other), Psychological (subclasses Metacognitive, Value, and Compassion), and Philosophical-existential (subclasses Purpose, Value, and Other).”
Metacognitive, mystical, and value insights were associated with perceived improvements in wellbeing. Participants also reported insights that the study team said were “not fully captured by existing questionnaires.”
“Reports of both types of experiences included mystical-type, psychological, and philosophical-existential insights, with only minor differences between psychedelic and meditation experiences,” the study concludes. “These results highlight the similarities between personally meaningful psychedelic and meditation experiences, as well as between experiences facilitated by different types of psychedelic substances.”
“The results suggest that both psychedelics and meditation can facilitate a broad range of insights beyond mystical-type insights, and that these insights are associated with perceived changes in wellbeing.”
While the new study looks at psychedelics and meditation separately, research published earlier this year examined the interplay between them. It found that among adults who regularly meditate, nearly 3 in 4 felt that psychedelic use had a positive impact on the quality of their meditation.
The research, published in the journal PLoS ONE, surveyed 863 adults who meditated at least three times per week over the past year. Among them, 73.5 percent said the use of psychedelics was beneficial to their meditation practice.
A separate study released in 2023 found that people who practiced yoga after consuming marijuana experienced heightened mindfulness and mysticality, indicating that setting and behavior also played an important role in modulating a person’s experience.
The study’s results “generally indicate that what you do while you experience cannabis effects matters,” that paper concluded. “Mirroring psychedelics, this study supports the concept that set and setting during cannabis use may significantly impact the therapeutic benefit of the drug.”
Another study, published last year, found that people who’d used multiple different formulations of psilocybin—including whole mushrooms, mycological extract and a lab-synthesized version—typically preferred whole mushrooms, which they describe as not only more effective but also “more alive and vibrant.”
Another study from last year, which explored the role of psilocybin mushrooms in the evolution of human consciousness, said the psychedelic has the “potential to trigger significant neurological and psychological effects” that could have influenced the development of our species over time.
Meanwhile a recent paper by Johns Hopkins University researchers on the effects of psychedelics found that—contrary to some earlier evidence—a single psilocybin experience isn’t likely to make an atheist believe in God or dispel someone’s sense of free will. It may, however, inspire the belief that animals, plants or even objects like rocks and robots have some sort of consciousness.
