Major life changes following psychedelic use: A retrospective survey among people using psychedelics naturalistically.

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Learn more: PMC Disclaimer | PMC Copyright Notice Sci Rep . 2026 Apr 15;16:17493. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-48084-3 Major life changes following psychedelic use: A retrospective survey among people using psychedelics naturalistically Jacob S Aday 1, 2, ✉ , Nicolas G Glynos 1, 2 , Anne K Baker 1, 2 , Niloufar Pouyan 1, 2, 3 , Tristin Smith 1 , Julie Barron 4, 5, 6 , Moss Herberholz 7 , Daniel J Kruger 8 , Joshua D Woolley 9, 10 , Kevin F Boehnke 1, 2 Author information Article notes Copyright and License information 1 Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 USA 2 Michigan Psychedelic Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA 3 Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA 4 Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI USA 5 Michigan Psychedelic Society, Ann Arbor, MI USA 6 Blue Sage Health Consulting, Ann Arbor, MI USA 7 The Radical Well-Being Center, Southfield, MI USA 8 Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY USA 9 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA 10 San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA USA ✉ Corresponding author. Received 2025 Feb 7; Accepted 2026 Apr 6; Collection date 2026. © The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ . PMC Copyright notice PMCID: PMC13236977  PMID: 41986543 Abstract Psychedelic drugs show promise in facilitating a variety of long-term psychological changes, but they may also lead to unexpected major life changes that have not been captured by measures typically used in clinical trials. The Psychedelic-related Major Life Changes Questionnaire ( P-MLCQ ) was created to assess psychedelic-related major life changes across 10 different domains and evaluated in a sample reporting naturalistic psychedelic use ( N = 581). 482/581 participants (82.96%) reported at least one major life change influenced by their psychedelic use ( M = 3.29, SD = 2.60), including changes in Goals (53.70%), Values (53.53%), Religion/spirituality (49.05%), Social activities (37.01%), Eating habits/diet (34.08%), Occupation/Line of work (32.36%), Hobbies (29.43%), Political views (14.97%), Sexuality (13.08%), and Marital status/non-marital partner change (12.22%). Major life changes were rated highly positively ( M = 4.64, SD = 0.61 on a 5-point scale). There was a positive relationship between frequency of psychedelic use over the last five years and total number of psychedelic-related major life changes ( r = 0.34, p < 0.001). Women were 21% more likely than men to report major life changes, whereas age and education-level were negatively related to major life changes. Although our results support that psychedelic use can be followed by major life changes, future research is needed to examine the generalizability of these results in representative samples that are less susceptible to positive bias. Keywords: Psychedelic, Major life changes, Beliefs, Questionnaire, Survey Subject terms: Psychology, Human behaviour Psychedelic drugs, including classic psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide; LSD), empathogens (e.g., 3,4-Methyl​enedioxy​methamphetamine; MDMA), and dissociative psychedelics (e.g., ketamine), are currently being explored for a variety of clinical applications, particularly when paired with psychotherapy (i.e., psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy; PAP) 1 , 2 . However, there have been anecdotes of individuals making a variety of unexpected “major life changes” after psychedelic use (e.g., changes in careers, relationships, political views, etc.) that have been largely not captured by adverse event reporting or other self-report measures used in psychedelic clinical trials 3 . To address this gap, we report on the development of the Psychedelic-related Major Life Changes Questionnaire ( P-MLCQ ), which was designed to characterize the quality and valence of potential major life changes related to psychedelic use. Converging lines of research support the notion that psychedelic use may be followed by major life changes. First, mounting evidence from clinical trials 4 , 5 , naturalistic studies 6 , 7 , and cross-sectional research 8 , 9 support that use of psychedelics can be followed by myriad prolonged psychological changes after just a limited number of experiences or even a single dose. Recent studies of PAP have found long-term changes in depression 10 , anxiety 11 , substance use disorders 12 , existential distress 13 , spirituality 14 , cognitive flexibility 15 , and personality 16 , supporting the potential for psychedelic use to catalyze enduring changes in thought and behavior. Researchers have also documented long-term belief changes that have been linked to psychedelic use, including increases in beliefs in “Dualism”, “Paranormal/Spirituality”, “Non-mammal consciousness”, and “Mammal consciousness” 17 . In the ‘underground’ psychedelic community and in psychedelic clinical trials, it is not uncommon to encourage patients to wait at least several weeks after dosing to make major life decisions 18 —possibly because it is assumed that individuals are more prone to making major life changes in the immediate aftermath of a psychedelic experience or that they may not have capacity to make authentic decisions during this period. There is also clinical trial evidence that psychedelic use can lead to changes in spirituality, and in at least one case, sociopolitical views. Indeed, de Wit et al. 3 reported on a white supremacist leader, who during an MDMA session, had unexpected and transformative insights regarding his racist beliefs that led to a long-term questioning of his values and behavior. Lastly, there are famous case studies of psychedelic researchers making major life changes themselves after personal psychedelic use. Notably, after a career as a successful Harvard psychologist, Dr. Richard Alpert’s psychedelic experiences prompted him to leave academia and travel to India, where he changed his name to Ram Dass and became an impactful spiritual teacher 19 . There are a number of putative mechanisms of action that may lead to major life changes with psychedelics. First, psychedelic use has been reliably linked to enduring increases in openness to experience 16 , which may make individuals more likely to consider and be open to major life changes. Psychedelics can also facilitate the feeling of insight 20 , which has been linked to long-term therapeutic outcomes but might also catalyze unintended major life changes 21 . Recent research also suggests that psychedelics can lead to ‘false insights’, which could potentially lead to major life changes that are maladaptive 22 . In some cases, psychedelic use has been purported to lead to rapid changes in one’s identity and sense of self 23 . Devenot et al. 24 identified multiple domains relating to identity shift in a clinical trial of PAP for smoking cessation, and that these changes had an identifiable link to the manualized treatment. This converges with the increasingly dominant neuroplasticity framework of psychedelic action, which suggests that psychedelics may make individuals acutely more sensitive to context and that this can be harnessed to facilitate lasting changes in neural networks and behavior 25 . Additionally, psychedelics have been reported to occasion transformative experiences 26 – 28 , which are characterized by “by an epistemic shift that is so profound it causes a substantial change in one’s personal values and priorities that is practically impossible to accurately imagine in advance” 29 , which may also catalyze major life changes. Thus, the potential for psychedelics to be followed by major life changes is well-supported by theory, naturalistic use outcomes, and clinical trial participants, but to-date, there has been little systematic measure of these changes. Beyond documenting major life changes, it is also imperative to evaluate how they are perceived as well as identify variables that may predict major life changes after psychedelic use. Factors such as education, gender, and frequency of use, have been shown to moderate responses to psychedelics and other drugs to some extent 30 , and there is preliminary evidence supporting that they may also be linked to psychedelic-related major life changes 21 . Thus, in the current study, we surveyed a large sample of people naturalistically using psychedelics regarding potential major life changes related to their use, assessed how they evaluated these major life changes, and examined variables that may predict the number of psychedelic-related major life changes participants endorsed. Method Participants and procedure Participants were recruited from September 17, 2023 to October 31, 2023 online and via posted advertisements at Entheofest, an annual psychedelic advocacy event held on the afternoon of September 17, 2023 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. This survey was a subcomponent of a larger project characterizing naturalistic use of psychedelics; other components of the survey gauged patterns of use (e.g., frequency, dosage, setting), recommendations for first-time users, harm reduction techniques, perceptions of risks and benefits 31 , 32 , perceived effects on sexual and gender dynamics 33 , and characteristics of psychedelic practitioners 34 . It was noted to participants that they could complete the survey after the event by scanning a QR code; no participants who were visibly intoxicated were recruited to participate. Internet recruitment included emails sent to previous Entheofest survey participants who provided email addresses and agreed to be recontacted, the researchers’ network contacts, psychedelic-related email listservs and newsletters (e.g., Blue Sage, Psychedelic Alpha, The Microdose, Tricycle Day), and social media platforms (e.g., Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin). All participants were required to provide informed consent and be at least 18 years old to complete the survey. This study was deemed exempt by the University of Michigan Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (Protocol HUM00205639) and carried out in accordance with all relevant guidelines and regulations. No identifying data was collected to ensure confidentiality and anonymity. Participants were not compensated and could withdraw at any time. Measures Demographic variables collected included gender (woman, man, non-binary, trans-woman, trans-man, other identity), age (in years), education (No high school diploma; High school diploma or equivalent, GED; Some college credit, no degree; Trade, Technical, or Vocational; Associate’s Degree; Bachelor’s Degree; Master’s Degree; Advanced Professional or Doctorate), and races/ethnicities (Caucasian/White, Hispanic/Latino, African American/Black, Aboriginal/First Nation/Native American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Other). Participants could select all races/ethnicities that applied. To measure frequency of psychedelic use, participants were asked “Approximately how frequently have you used psychedelic substances in the past 5 years?” for each psychedelic drug included in the survey with eight possible response options ranging from not in the past 5 years to more than once per week. To gauge psychedelic-related major life changes, we asked participants “Has a psychedelic experience ever influenced you to make a major life change regarding your:” Possible major life change options included: Occupation/Line of work, Sexuality, Marital status or a non-marital partner change, Social activities (e.g., clubs, movies, visiting friends), Hobbies, Values, Goals, Religion/spirituality, Political views, and Eating habits/diet. For each major life change endorsed, participants were prompted with a follow-up question asking “How do you feel about this life change?” with response options of (1) Very negatively, (2) Somewhat negatively, (3) Neutral, (4) Somewhat positively, and (5) Very positively. We termed this set of questions in the survey as the Psychedelic-related Major Life Changes Questionnaire ( P-MLCQ ; Fig. 1 ). Fig. 1. Open in a new tab The Psychedelic-related major life changes questionnaire . Statistical analyses Descriptive statistics were used to gauge the proportions of participants responding affirmatively to each item on the P-MLCQ . A two-tailed Pearson Correlation was used to evaluate the relationship between frequency of psychedelic use and total number of psychedelic-related major life changes. Frequency of psychedelic use was calculated for each participant by adding together frequency score (1–8) for each psychedelic queried. Total number of psychedelic-related major life changes was calculated by adding together the total number of major life change categories endorsed for each participant (0–10). Lastly, age, gender, education, and race were entered into a stepwise zero-inflated negative binomial regression model to explore potential demographic variables predictive of major life changes. For the purposes of this model, the gender variable was comprised of the options of men, women, and other, race/ethnicity was reported as Asian, Black, Hispanic, Multiracial, White, and Other, and education was converted to years of education for the regression. Age was adjusted to represent an increase of 10 years instead of 1 year for easier interpretation of the results. Chi square analyses were used to examine potential differences in the types of major life changes endorsed across gender, race/ethnicity, and education-level subgroups. Results Demographics Participants ( N = 581) reported hearing about the survey via email (40.8%), social media (27.2%), the Entheofest event (12.6%), and other sources (17.7%; newsletters, etc.); 1.7% of participants did not answer this item. Regarding gender, the sample was composed of 50.6% women, 44.2% men, 3.1% non-binary individuals, 0.7% trans-women, 0.3% trans-men, 0.7% other, and 0.3% missing. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 85 ( M = 44, SD = 15). The sample was generally well-educated, with the highest levels of education completed being Advanced Professional or Doctorate (13.1%), Master’s Degree (29.1%), Bachelor’s Degree (26.5%), Associate’s Degree (6.9%), Trade, Technical or Vocational (6.0%), Some college credit, no degree (13.6%), High school diploma or equivalent (3.8%), No high school diploma (0.5%), and missing (0.5%).The sample was predominantly Caucasian/White (73.3%), with the rest identifying as Multiracial (7.6%), African American/Black (2.6%), Hispanic/Latino/a/x (2.4%), Asian (2.1%), Aboriginal/First Nation/Native American (0.3%) or Other Race or Ethnicity (1.0%), Additionally, 10.7% of participants were missing this variable. Major life changes Of the 581 participants, 482 (82.96%) reported at least one major life change that was influenced by a psychedelic experience. The average number of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed was 3.29 ( SD = 2.60). Overall, participants viewed their major life changes as highly positive, with an overall mean rating of 4.64 on a 5-point scale (1 = very negatively, 5 = very positively; SD = 0.61). Correspondingly, 94.35% of major life changes were viewed as “somewhat” or “very” positively, with only 4.81% of major life changes viewed neutrally, and less than 1% (0.84%) as “somewhat” or “very” negatively (Table 1 ). Of note, one participant who answered yes to the Values and Goals question did not answer the respective 5-point scale question. Table 1. Descriptive statistics from the Psychedelic-related Major Life Changes Questionnaire . Psychedelic-influenced major life changes (N = 581) Descriptive Statistics Frequencies Major life change n % M rating SD rating Very negatively Somewhat negatively Neutral Somewhat positively Very positively Goals 312 53.70% 4.72 0.55 0.00% 0.64% 2.89% 19.94% 76.53% Values 311 53.53% 4.78 0.46 0.00% 0.00% 2.26% 17.10% 80.65% Religion/spirituality 285 49.05% 4.80 0.49 0.00% 0.35% 2.81% 13.68% 83.16% Social activities 215 37.01% 4.61 0.64 0.00% 0.93% 5.58% 25.12% 68.37% Eating habits/diet 198 34.08% 4.52 0.67 0.00% 1.52% 5.05% 33.84% 59.60% Occupation/line of work 188 32.36% 4.59 0.75 1.06% 0.00% 9.57% 18.09% 71.28% Hobbies 171 29.43% 4.70 0.54 0.00% 0.58% 2.34% 23.39% 73.68% Political views 87 14.97% 4.52 0.83 0.00% 3.45% 11.49% 14.94% 70.11% Sexuality 76 13.08% 4.62 0.71 0.00% 1.32% 9.21% 15.79% 73.68% Romantic partner change 71 12.22% 4.52 0.73 0.00% 1.41% 9.86% 23.94% 64.79% Open in a new tab Predictors of major life changes We ran several planned analyses to identify factors associated with psychedelic-related major life changes. First, a two-tailed Pearson correlation revealed a positive relationship between frequency of psychedelic use over the last five years and total number of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed ( r = 0.34, p < 0.001; Fig. 2 ). Fig. 2. Open in a new tab There was a positive correlation between frequency of psychedelic use and total number of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed ( r = 0.34, p < 0.001). A stepwise zero-inflated negative binomial regression analysis was performed to explore demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education) possibly related to psychedelic-related major life changes. Of note, 63 participants were removed for this analysis due to missing covariate data (2 for gender, 1 for education, and 60 for race/ethnicity). In the first step, age was entered into the model, followed by gender, and lastly education. The inclusion of race was not found to improve the fit of the model overall (Table 2 ). Results from this model demonstrate that for each additional 10 years of age the expected number of major life changes decreases by 8% and women experienced 21% more life changes than men. For each additional year of education the expected number of life changes decreased by 2%. Table 2. Stepwise zero-inflated negative binomial regression predicting total number of psychedelic related major life changes. Variable of Interest IRR (95% CI) p -value Age 0.92 (0.88, 0.97) 0.0009 Gender (ref. Male) Female 1.21 (1.06, 1.37) 0.0039 Other 1.11 (0.085, 1.46) 0.4369 Education 0.98 (0.96, 0.999) 0.0389 Open in a new tab Chi Square analyses explored potential differences in the specific types of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed across gender, race/ethnicity, and education-level subgroups. A higher proportion of women (14.97%) compared to men (8.56%) reported making a romantic partner change ( p < 0.05; Table 3 ), and more non-White participants (41.9%) reported occupation/line of work changes than White participants (29.6%; p < 0.05; Table 4 ). For education, there were statistically significant differences between groups with respect to hobbies and political views ( p < 0.05). In pairwise assessments, these differences were driven by differences between the those with less than a Bachelor’s Degree and those with a Master’s Degree or higher ( p = 0.026), and a Bachelor’s Degree and those with a Master’s Degree or higher ( p = 0.021) for hobbies. For political views, the differences were a result of differences between those with less than a Bachelor’s degree and those with a Master’s degree or higher ( p = 0.0004) in pairwise assessment (Table 5 ). Table 3. Chi square analysis comparing types of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed by men and women. Major Life Change Men Women p -value Goals 135 (52.53%) 159 (54.08%) 0.7804 Values 131 (50.97%) 162 (55.1%) 0.3770 Religion/spirituality 127 (49.42%) 145 (49.32%) 1.0000 Social activities 97 (37.74%) 105 (35.71%) 0.6859 Eating habits/diet 78 (30.35%) 112 (38.1%) 0.0690 Occupation/line of work 77 (29.96%) 104 (35.37%) 0.2081 Hobbies 79 (30.74%) 82 (27.89%) 0.5225 Political views 40 (15.56%) 40 (13.61%) 0.5962 Sexuality 27 (10.51%) 41 (13.95%) 0.2736 Romantic partner change 22 (8.56%) 44 (14.97%) 0.0294 Open in a new tab Table 4. Chi square analysis comparing types of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed by White and Non-White participants. Major Life Change White Non-White p -value Goals 226 (53.1%) 56 (60.2%) 0.2536 Values 213 (50%) 57 (61.3%) 0.0629 Religion/spirituality 202 (47.4%) 52 (55.9%) 0.1705 Social activities 145 (34%) 39 (41.9%) 0.1859 Eating habits/diet 136 (31.9%) 34 (36.6%) 0.4588 Occupation/line of work 126 (29.6%) 39 (41.9%) 0.0281 Hobbies 118 (27.7%) 34 (36.6%) 0.1152 Political views 56 (13.1%) 19 (20.4%) 0.0995 Sexuality 46 (10.8%) 16 (17.2%) 0.1213 Romantic partner change 51 (12%) 11 (11.8%) 1.0000 Open in a new tab Table 5. Chi square analysis comparing types of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed among various education levels. Major Life Change Less than Bachelor’s Bachelor’s Degree Master’s and Higher p -value Goals 105 (58.7%) 80 (51.9%) 127 (51.8%) 0.3188 Values 104 (58.1%) 83 (53.9%) 123 (50.2%) 0.2726 Religion/spirituality 98 (54.7%) 70 (45.5%) 116 (47.3%) 0.1822 Social activities 76 (42.5%) 56 (36.4%) 82 (33.5%) 0.1634 Eating habits/diet 70 (39.1%) 54 (35.1%) 73 (29.8%) 0.1300 Occupation/line of work 61 (34.1%) 58 (37.7%) 69 (28.2%) 0.1241 Hobbies 60 (33.5%) 53 (34.4%) 57 (23.3%) 0.0205 Political views 42 (23.5%) 20 (13%) 25 (10.2%) 0.0006 Sexuality 23 (12.8%) 19 (12.3%) 34 (13.9%) 0.8973 Romantic partner change 27 (15.1%) 16 (10.4%) 27 (11%) 0.3348 Open in a new tab Discussion In the current study, we queried a large sample of individuals about possible major life changes that they may have made that were influenced by their previous psychedelic use. We found that most participants (82.96%) endorsed making at least one major life change that was influenced by psychedelic use, with participants making approximately three psychedelic-related major life changes on average. When asked how they feel now about making these major life changes, responses were overwhelmingly positive, with less than 1% of life changes being evaluated as “somewhat” or “very” negative. We also found that frequency of psychedelic use was positively associated with the total number of psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed. Lastly, age, gender, and education were related to psychedelic-related major life changes, such that as the level of education and age increased, the total number of major life changes endorsed decreased. Women were 21% more likely than men to report psychedelic-related major life changes. Although there has been limited collection and reporting of psychedelic-related major life changes, our results are highly consistent with the only other study that we are aware of to systematically measure life changes related to psychedelic use. Perkins et al. (2023) conducted a large-scale ( N = 8907), international cross-sectional survey study on people reporting ayahuasca use, where they asked if participants had experienced any specific life changes or lifestyle changes after using ayahuasca. The consistency with our results is remarkable—89% reported at least one life change influenced by ayahuasca, participants endorsed three life changes on average, changes in spirituality were among the most common major life change, being female as well as lower education were associated with greater lifestyle change, and the number of times ayahuasca was consumed was positively related to life and lifestyle changes. Together, the dovetailing results support the prevalent, but rarely quantified, notion that experiences with psychedelics may spur major life changes. The construct validity of this hypothesis is further bolstered by the finding that there were dose-dependent relationships between psychedelic use and major life changes in both studies, such that as individuals used psychedelics more frequently, they were more likely to make psychedelic-related major life changes. Additionally, although education may be a surprising variable to moderate responses to a psychoactive drug, it has been demonstrated that as education increases, individuals are generally able to construct more stable lives that are less susceptible to major changes 35 , 36 , including, it seems, those influenced by psychedelics. Although most psychedelic clinical trials do not report data on participant education 37 , these results as well as contrasting historical conceptions of psychedelics as so-called “intellectual” drugs 38 , 39 , suggest this may be an important participant characteristic to consider in predicting extended effects. Lastly, our finding that for each additional 10 years of age the expected number of major life changes decreases by 8% is in-line with myriad converging studies indicating blunted drugs effects with psychedelics across the lifespan 6 , 30 , 40 – 42 . Discussion regarding some of the specific major life changes endorsed and their possible implications for research, clinical populations, and society more generally is merited as well. First, these findings have critical implications for informed consent practices in psychedelic clinical trials 43 . Many of the changes reported here, including marital status, sexuality, values, and spirituality, among others, are foundational components of individuals’ lives and sense of self. Although these major life changes were viewed highly positively by our sample, participants must be made aware beforehand that fundamental aspects of their lives may potentially change after a psychedelic experience. It is also possible that many of these major life changes are closely interlinked with the therapeutic process with psychedelics. That is, an important component of psychedelic therapy is learning to shift from an avoidance to acceptance mindset, where individuals are better able to tolerate and engage with challenging experiences and emotions 44 , 45 . This may lead to individuals reconsidering major life changes that they had previously been avoiding. Indeed, some have gone as far as to argue that the degree to which people make major life changes should be a criterion of success in psychotherapy 46 . Lastly, several of the major life changes endorsed here relate specifically to beliefs (e.g., spirituality, political views). As psychedelic use and research continues to increase, the question of directionally-specific belief changes remains highly contested 47 , 48 and will continue to be particularly contentious when it comes to issues such as religion and politics. Some have described psychedelics as ‘politically pluripotent’ given their use among both conservatives and liberals 49 ; however, other studies have found use of psychedelics to be associated with liberal and anti-authoritarian political views 50 . Although our study did not capture the direction of political belief changes, approximately 15% endorsed that psychedelics influenced a major life change in their political views, suggesting that this is an important area to follow-up on in future studies. There may also be potential for nefarious actors to use psychedelics to coerce individuals into major life or belief changes, as has been noted with some cults 51 . There are several important limitations to this study. First, our recruitment strategy is likely to have disproportionately targeted individuals with positive predispositions towards psychedelics, given that they chose to be involved and engaged with the psychedelic community. Also, participants were not compensated for survey completion, which could have led to a positive bias; however, those with negative experiences with psychedelics would ostensibly want to share their experiences as well for community harm reduction. Although we collected current demographic data, it is unknown when participants made these psychedelic-related major life changes and what their life circumstances and intentions for psychedelic use were at the time. It is possible that people with more stable lives or less desire to make life changes may be less likely to seek out psychedelics in naturalistic settings. Another limitation is that frequency of use responses across multiple psychedelic substances were aggregated, so further research is needed to identify if there are difference across various psychedelic substances in predicting major life changes. It is also unknown how these psychedelic-related major life changes may have actually impacted functioning or may have affected those around our participants. Although participants viewed these changes as overwhelmingly positive, there may be cases where the psychedelic-related major life change had a negative effect on those dependent on them (e.g., divorce, career change that affects family’s lifestyle, etc.) or where there is an observable detriment to the individual making the life change that is not evident to themselves. Nonetheless, the overwhelmingly positive appraisals of the psychedelic-related major life changes endorsed is compelling and may have important therapeutic implications. Additionally, because this was not a representative survey study, our results cannot speak directly to the prevalence of these major life changes. However, as noted previously, the existence and mere possibility of these major life changes has important implications for research and policy. Lastly, because our survey was retrospective in nature, it is possible that the results were subject to recall bias. In summary, as naturalistic use and clinical research into psychedelics continues to increase, it is critical to capture the full spectrum of long-term sequelae related to psychedelic use. Development of the P-MLCQ is an important step towards understanding the nature and appraisal of psychedelic-related major life changes that have otherwise been underreported. It is our hope that the P-MLCQ can be incorporated into a variety of clinical and naturalistic studies to further refine our understanding of possible psychedelic-related major life changes. Author contributions JSA drafted the initial manuscript. NGG, AKB, NP, TS, JB, MH, DJK, JDW, and KFB contributed to the design of the study and survey as well as editing the manuscript. Data availability The data that support these findings are available from the corresponding author (JSA) upon request. Declarations Competing interests This research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. JSA’s effort on this publication was partially supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under T32AR007080-44S1. JB is the Founder/President of the Michigan Psychedelic Society, Co-Director of Decriminalize Nature Michigan, Board Member of Decriminalize Nature, Founder/Executive Director of Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, Psychedelic Integration and Music Therapist at Blue Sage Health Consulting, and Board Member of Michigan Dancesafe. JDW has been a paid consultant for Silo Pharma and Filament Health. KFB has received grant funding from Tryp Therapeutics for protocol development, and sits on a data safety and monitoring board for an ongoing clinical trial with Vireo Health (unpaid). No other author has conflicts of interest. 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[ Google Scholar ] Associated Data This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. Data Availability Statement The data that support these findings are available from the corresponding author (JSA) upon request. Articles from Scientific Reports are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group ACTIONS View on publisher site PDF (1.9 MB) Cite Collections Permalink RESOURCES Similar articles Cited by other articles Links to NCBI Databases Follow NCBI NCBI on X (formerly known as Twitter) NCBI on Facebook NCBI on LinkedIn NCBI on GitHub NCBI RSS feed Connect with NLM NLM on X (formerly known as Twitter) NLM on Facebook NLM on YouTube National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894 Web Policies FOIA HHS Vulnerability Disclosure Help Accessibility Careers NLM NIH HHS USA.gov Back to Top

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