Why Guilt, Shame During Psychedelic Trips Could Actually Be Positive

Interest in psychedelics and their therapeutic potential has grown in recent years, and plenty of studies have been conducted or are currently underway to understand how exactly these substances exert the effects they have. One recent study focused on why some people report experiencing difficult emotions, such as guilt and shame, during their psychedelic sessions and what impact those feelings have on their wellbeing in the days, weeks and months after psychedelic use.

The findings of this research were published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. The team found that it was very common for people to experience guilt and shame during their sessions of using psilocybin. About two-thirds of all psilocybin users reported experiencing these feelings during their “trip.”

Interestingly, the researchers discovered that these difficult emotions had a positive side to them. Depending on how well an individual processed those emotions, their general wellbeing tended to improve after the psychedelic session. It didn’t matter how intensely the person experienced guilt or shame; the way they processed those emotions determined the extent to which their wellbeing improved.

To arrive at their findings, the researchers enlisted 679 adults (18 years or older) that planned to use psilocybin mushrooms in their daily lives and outside of a clinical setting. The researchers, led by David Mathai from the Baylor College of Medicine, administered several questionnaires to the study participants a fortnight before, on the eve of psychedelic use, 1-3 days after psychedelic use, 2-4 weeks after, and 2-3 months after the session.

The questionnaire administered weeks before psychedelic use elicited demographic information, tendency to feel shame, level of depression or anxiety, previous adverse experiences during childhood, cognitive flexibility, among other baseline factors.

The questionnaires administered in the aftermath of the psychedelic session were intended to gather information on the overall rating of the psychedelic experience and how feelings of guilt and shame shifted in the days and weeks following the “trip.” The team also wanted to glean some details on how the participants reflected on their feelings and how that reflection impacted their overall wellbeing.

It is noteworthy that younger subjects tended to report higher degrees of guilt and shame. The team also found that individuals who were better able to process those difficult feelings tended to report higher improvements in their wellbeing following their psychedelic experience. It didn’t matter whether the guilt or shame was intense or mild; wellbeing was boosted more in those who processed these feelings effectively.

However, the study had some limitations. Subjective matters like guilt and shame are always hard to accurately quantify, and since the results were based on self-reported experiences, questions about the replicability of the findings will exist. Further research in a clinical setting may be needed to verify these findings.

Other psychedelic drug R&D programs being undertaken by firms like Seelos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SEEL) are likely to also uncover useful insights about hallucinogens and the data on psychedelics will become more concrete as the years go by.

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