Lasting increases in trait mindfulness after psilocybin correlate positively with the mystical-type experience in healthy individuals
Psilocybin-induced mystical-type experiences are associated with lasting positive psychological outcomes. Recent studies indicate that trait mindfulness is increased 3 months after psilocybin intake, preceded by decreases in neocortical serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT R) binding. However, the associatio...
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| Published in: | Frontiers in psychology Vol. 13; p. 948729 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
05.10.2022
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| Subjects: | |
| ISSN: | 1664-1078, 1664-1078 |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Psilocybin-induced mystical-type experiences are associated with lasting positive psychological outcomes. Recent studies indicate that trait mindfulness is increased 3 months after psilocybin intake, preceded by decreases in neocortical serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT
R) binding. However, the association between psilocybin-induced mystical-type experiences and subsequent changes in trait mindfulness remains unexplored, as does the association between pre-drug trait mindfulness and 5-HT
R binding in the healthy brain.
We evaluated whether psilocybin induced lasting increases in trait mindfulness in healthy volunteers, and whether the mystical-type experience was associated with this increase. We further examined the association between pre-drug trait mindfulness and 5-HT
R binding in neocortex and selected frontolimbic regions.
Forty-six medium-high dose psilocybin sessions were conducted in 39 healthy individuals. The mystical-type experience was measured with the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ) at the end of the session. Trait mindfulness was measured using the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS) at baseline and 3 months after the psilocybin session. Thirty-two of the participants completed pre-drug [
C]-Cimbi-36 positron emission tomography (PET) to assess 5-HT
R binding in neocortex and,
, in the frontolimbic regions amygdala, frontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex.
The MAAS score was significantly increased at 3-month follow-up (
= 3.24 × 10
), a change positively associated with the MEQ score (
= 0.035). Although the association between pre-drug MAAS score and neocortex 5-HT
R binding was not significant (
= 0.24),
analyses revealed a significant negative association between MAAS and right amygdala 5-HT
R binding (p
= 0.008).
We here show that lasting changes in trait mindfulness following psilocybin administration are positively associated with intensity of the mystical-type experience, suggesting that the acute phenomenology of psilocybin facilitates a shift in awareness conducive for mindful living. We furthermore show that higher pre-drug trait mindfulness is associated with reduced 5-HT
R binding in the right amygdala. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Reviewed by: Kai-Chun Yang, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan; Yasmin Schmid, University of California, San Diego, United States; Szabolcs Lehel, Rigshospitalet, Denmark This article was submitted to Psychology for Clinical Settings, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Edited by: Nuno Conceicao, University of Lisbon, Portugal |
| ISSN: | 1664-1078 1664-1078 |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.948729 |