Psychedelic experiences can lead to a reduction in death anxiety, potentially through altering an individual’s metaphysical beliefs, according to new research published in the journal Death Studies. The findings open new avenues for understanding how psychedelics might help individuals cope with existential fears.
Psychedelic drugs have been of interest in therapeutic settings for their potential to improve mental well-being and reduce symptoms of mental health disorders. One particular area of interest is the ability of these substances to alleviate death anxiety, a profound fear or apprehension about one’s mortality.
Previous studies have suggested that psychedelic experiences can lead to reductions in death anxiety, but the mechanisms behind this change were not well understood. The researchers aimed to explore whether changes in metaphysical beliefs—core beliefs about the nature of reality and consciousness—might be a key factor in reducing death anxiety following psychedelic use.
“There is decent evidence that psychedelics can at least sometimes change people’ attitudes toward death,” said study author Sam Moreton, an associate lecturer at the University of Wollongong. “However, we don’t know much about why this is the case. We were interested in seeing how changes in death anxiety would relate to changes in metaphysical beliefs, as changed beliefs (such as beliefs about the nature of consciousness) are one route through which psychedelics might change death anxiety.”
The study involved recruiting 155 participants who had experienced significant psychedelic trips that they felt altered their attitudes or anxieties about death. Participants had to be at least 18 years old, fluent in English, and have used one of the classic psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, DMT, or mescaline. Recruitment was done through online platforms and social media, targeting psychedelic-specific groups. The final sample included a diverse group of participants from various backgrounds and regions.
Participants completed an anonymous online survey, where they provided demographic information, details about their lifetime use of psychedelics, and information about one specific significant psychedelic experience. They also answered questions about their beliefs and attitudes toward death three months before and after this experience.
On average, participants reported a significant reduction in death anxiety following their psychedelic experiences. While 81 participants experienced a decrease in death anxiety, 57 reported an increase, and 17 reported no change. This variability suggests that while psychedelics can reduce death anxiety for many, they can also increase it for some.
Participants showed a significant overall increase in non-physicalist beliefs, which are beliefs that emphasize the separation of mind and body or the existence of consciousness beyond the physical world. Specifically, beliefs in ontological transcendentalism (the existence of another realm beyond the physical) and non-naturalism (a unifying principle beyond material explanation) increased significantly.
The strength of mystical experiences during the psychedelic trip was significantly correlated with reductions in death anxiety and increases in non-physicalist beliefs. However, psychological insights gained during the trip did not show the same relationship with changes in death anxiety.
One of the most noteworthy findings was the correlation between changes in death anxiety and changes in the belief in panpsychism. The belief in panpsychism, the idea that consciousness is a fundamental quality of all things in the universe, was the only metaphysical belief significantly correlated with reductions in death anxiety. This suggests that believing in a form of consciousness that extends beyond physical death may help alleviate fears of nonexistence.
“Positive changes in death anxiety were most strongly related to changes in panpsychism, which is a metaphysical position that suggests that consciousness is within everything,” Moreton told PsyPost. “Positive changes in death anxiety were also related to the strength of the ‘mystical experience’ induced by psychedelics.”
“However, overall the changes in death anxiety in participants were not as strongly related to changes in metaphysical beliefs as we thought. Many of the correlations between changes in specific metaphysical beliefs and changes in death anxiety were non-significant. So either metaphysical beliefs might not play a strong role in why psychedelics typically change death anxiety, or we need to look at different metaphysical beliefs, perhaps beliefs that more explicitly refer to the possibility of life after death.”
Despite the promising findings, the study has several limitations. The retrospective nature of the study means that participants’ recall accuracy could be biased by their current beliefs and attitudes. Additionally, the study’s cross-sectional design limits the ability to establish causal relationships between psychedelic experiences, changes in metaphysical beliefs, and reductions in death anxiety.
Future research could aim to address these limitations by using prospective designs, where participants are assessed before and after their psychedelic experiences in real-time. Larger sample sizes and more diverse participant demographics would also help to generalize the findings.
“We are working on a few questions,” Moreton explained. “There is good evidence that psychedelic experiences can change attitudes towards death but several questions remain: How often do psychedelic experiences change attitudes towards death? How big an effect do they have? How enduring are the effects? Are different psychedelics ‘better’ than others for reducing death anxiety? How often do psychedelics cause worsening of death anxiety? What aspects of the experience (e.g. mystical experience) might be important for changes in death anxiety?”
“And of course, we want to go deeper and try to investigate the link between death anxiety and metaphysical beliefs using more comprehensive measures of metaphysical beliefs, with larger sample sizes and more robust methodologies.”
The study, “Investigating the relationship between changes in metaphysical beliefs and death anxiety following a significant psychedelic experience,” was authored by Sam G. Moreton, Noah N. Barr, and Kayla J. Giese.