What Predicted the Acute Psilocybin Experience in 23 Studies?
The same drug can produce different reports across sessions. Studerus and colleagues pooled data from 23 controlled experiments to study that variability. The analysis covered 409 psilocybin administrations to 261 healthy volunteers and considered 24 potential predictors.
Dose and context both appeared in the models
Dose was the strongest predictor across the response measures. The authors also found associations with characteristics such as a participant’s emotional state before dosing and whether the study used a positron emission tomography setting. Some variables were associated with more pleasant experiences and others with unpleasant or anxious reactions.
The pooled analysis was designed to describe acute experiences in research volunteers. Participant characteristics and the setting were not necessarily assigned at random, so an association with a particular setting does not establish that the setting caused the response. When interpreting an account of an individual session, the study helps identify which details to document, including the conditions and the person’s state before administration.
