Psilocybin Eases Psychological Distress From Childhood Trauma, New Survey Suggests

Recently published findings from a Canada-based survey conducted by U.S. and Canadian universities and completed by 1,249 participants reflect that using psilocybin can help ease psychological distress from adverse childhood experiences. 

The study participants over 16 filled out a questionnaire assessing early traumatic experiences and another on their present consumption of psilocybin, including frequency, last time used and doses normally taken. 

Results

Study authors say replies suggest that, while the effect of adverse childhood experiences on psychological distress was lower among those who had used psilocybin vs. those who had not, the psychedelic offers “particularly strong benefits” for cases of more severe childhood adversity:

• A majority of respondents said they often/always (49.9%) or sometimes (32.3%) used psilocybin to address mental health or emotional challenges. 

• People with higher scores for adverse childhood experiences were significantly more likely to use psilocybin for mental health. Scores were not associated with more likelihood of using psilocybin for other reasons like pleasure, boredom, connection or spiritual purposes.

• Among people not using psilocybin in the past year, reasons commonly cited included not knowing where to get it (41.5%), being afraid of legal repercussions (82.9%) and concern about having a bad trip or negative experience (48.1%).

Authors also noted that feasibility studies suggest psilocybin “has a good safety profile and low addiction potential, particularly at low doses and even among those with complex psychiatric needs.”

Researchers added that “there appears to be a dose-response effect, with more exposure to psychedelics being associated with greater psychological effect and improvements to psychological well-being.”

These findings, authors say, are similar to other published research, including one with more than 213,000 U.S. adults showing lifetime use of psilocybin associated with lower odds of a past-year major depressive episode.

See Also: Canada Vs. US: Surveys Reveal How People Use Psychedelics, Relationships With Healthcare Providers

Taken together, these results and the existing literature would point to “a positive therapeutic potential of psilocybin,” researchers stated. 

Although the study takes on replies based on the naturalistic use of psilocybin, which greatly differs from therapeutic trials, researchers pose that the findings “converge with emerging evidence from clinical trials,” and “suggest that there may be benefits of use outside of therapeutic settings.”

The report cautions that psilocybin use outside a provider’s care “can result in adverse experiences,” including psychotic episodes or “bad” trips involving anxiety or paranoia.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels and Ground Picture on Shutterstock and Wikipedia.