Effects of psilocybin on personality, psychiatric symptoms, and values: Exploring mediating effects of the acute psychedelic experience

Psilocybin shows no clear group differences in personality traits or measured psychiatric symptoms in healthy participants, but it does influence self-reported personal values. In a secondary analysis of a phase 1 double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial using a single dose of 10 mg or 25 mg psilocybin versus inert placebo, outcomes were assessed shortly after dosing (day 8) and later follow-up (day 85) using personality, symptom, and values scales. Value changes were greater for both psilocybin groups compared to placebo, and the study found that features of the acute psychedelic experience can mediate these effects. Specifically, oceanic boundlessness on the Five-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness partially mediated value changes, with oceanic boundlessness also mediating differences across multiple value subscales. Auditory alterations mediated differences on one value subscale. Effects were described as exploratory and tentative pending replication in larger samples.