New research suggests meditation could be a useful and even necessary preparation for taking psychedelics. Not having the mindset conducive for a positive result increases the risk for bad trips. A recent preprint study concludes that meditation opens the mind, helps navigate challenging parts of the experience and provides a psychological framework for inner growth.
ILLUSTRATION Sergei Tokmakov/Pixabay
A contemplative practice creates a mindset that often produces a richer psychedelic experience, better navigates bad trips, and integrates insights afterwards, according to two recent studies by an international team of researchers.
The scientists say these findings are critical at a time when the use of psychoactive substances is increasing, both in supervised and in unsupervised settings. Bad trips are not uncommon, and vendors sometimes market the drugs as shortcuts to wellbeing, personal change, and transcendence.
Psychedelics should be used within some type of “framework” to prepare the mind, the researchers suggest. Meditation might provide that support.
The team, which includes clinical psychologists and psychiatrists from University College London and Harvard Medical School, produced one preprint report a year ago, and a second report this month.
Multiple studies over the years have shown synergies between meditation and psychedelics. For instance, a team of neuropsychopharmacologists at the University of Zurich in 2019 found psilocybin increased one’s depth of meditation, mindfulness and positive psychosocial functioning for at least four months following the trial. Meditation, in turn, seemed to enhance psilocybin’s positive effects.
And informally, psychonauts since the 1960s have often practiced various forms of meditation or other spiritual disciplines. Even researchers such as the late Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University who helped revive psychedelic studies had their own meditation practices.
However, research focused explicitly on how to best prepare the mind for taking powerful psychoactive drugs is insufficient, the researchers say. The London/Harvard team set out to better understand how meditation might create this healthy mindset, or “set” as it is often called in the context of using psychedelics.
To better understand meditation’s effect, the team questioned a group of 82 people who have practiced meditation and used psychedelics over many years. The results show meditation:
- develops an open mindset that leads to more profound psychedelic experiences,
- helps them navigate challenging and negative parts of the experience, and
- gives a psychological framework for integrating and sustaining growth after the experience.
“By structuring their lives around meditation and self-development, participants found that psychedelic insights were more effectively absorbed into daily life. This perspective was also suggested to help prevent the misconception of psychedelics as a ‘magic pill’ capable of instant transformation.”
Ancient cultures who used psychedelics did so within a cultural context that included rigorous preparation.
“Indigenous cultures with millennia of experience employ sophisticated preparatory practices, including dietary restrictions, communal support structures, and intentional ritualistic frameworks,” said one of the London/Harvard studies.
Today, however, preparation often is not emphasized in informal use of hallucinogens. That increases risks for bad trips. Clinical studies show that while psychedelics offer considerable promise for various treatments and human flourishing in general, they often produce adverse effects that can include panic, anxiety and existential distress.
Written by Tom Zolper
Edited by Anders Bolling
