Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness

TLDR

While core personality traits are generally stable after age 30, no study has shown changes in healthy adults following an experimentally manipulated event, though psilocybin has been linked to mystical experiences that predict long‑term behavioral and attitudinal changes. The study aimed to assess how psilocybin affects changes in the five broad personality domains. The authors assessed personality changes after a high‑dose psilocybin session in healthy adults. High‑dose psilocybin produced significant increases in Openness, which persisted for over a year in participants who experienced mystical states, indicating psilocybin’s role in adult personality change.

Abstract

A large body of evidence, including longitudinal analyses of personality change, suggests that core personality traits are predominantly stable after age 30. To our knowledge, no study has demonstrated changes in personality in healthy adults after an experimentally manipulated discrete event. Intriguingly, double-blind controlled studies have shown that the classic hallucinogen psilocybin occasions personally and spiritually significant mystical experiences that predict long-term changes in behaviors, attitudes and values. In the present report we assessed the effect of psilocybin on changes in the five broad domains of personality – Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Consistent with participant claims of hallucinogen-occasioned increases in aesthetic appreciation, imagination, and creativity, we found significant increases in Openness following a high-dose psilocybin session. In participants who had mystical experiences during their psilocybin session, Openness remained significantly higher than baseline more than 1 year after the session. The findings suggest a specific role for psilocybin and mystical-type experiences in adult personality change.