Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: a population study
- PMID: 25744618
- DOI: 10.1177/0269881114568039
Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: a population study
Abstract
A recent large population study of 130,000 adults in the United States failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or mescaline) and mental health problems. Using a new data set consisting of 135,095 randomly selected United States adults, including 19,299 psychedelic users, we examine the associations between psychedelic use and mental health. After adjusting for sociodemographics, other drug use and childhood depression, we found no significant associations between lifetime use of psychedelics and increased likelihood of past year serious psychological distress, mental health treatment, suicidal thoughts, suicidal plans and suicide attempt, depression and anxiety. We failed to find evidence that psychedelic use is an independent risk factor for mental health problems. Psychedelics are not known to harm the brain or other body organs or to cause addiction or compulsive use; serious adverse events involving psychedelics are extremely rare. Overall, it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure.
Keywords: Psychedelic; epidemiology; hallucinogen; public health; suicide.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Comment in
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The link between use of psychedelic drugs and mental health problems.J Psychopharmacol. 2015 Sep;29(9):1035-6. doi: 10.1177/0269881115596156. J Psychopharmacol. 2015. PMID: 26395581 No abstract available.
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Reply letter: Mental health of people who have used classical psychedelics and no other illicit drugs.J Psychopharmacol. 2015 Sep;29(9):1036-40. J Psychopharmacol. 2015. PMID: 26649373 No abstract available.
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