ReviewCurrent topics in behavioral neurosciences
Classic Hallucinogens and Mystical Experiences: Phenomenology and Neural Correlates.
Review in Current topics in behavioral neurosciences. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 83 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Investigation of Psychedelic Effects in Psychoactive Substances
Mystical Experiences Without Psychedelics: The Nature of Peak Spiritual Experiences and How Integration Leads to Human Flourishing
Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 256 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predictors of therapeutic response to psychedelic-assisted therapy: A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- The therapeutic effects of psychedelics for opioid use disorder: A systematic review of clinical studies.Psychiatry research · 2025Pooled it
- Default Mode Network Modulation by Psychedelics: A Systematic Review.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Drug-drug interactions between psychiatric medications and MDMA or psilocybin: a systematic review.Psychopharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Psychedelics for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and existential distress in patients with a terminal illness: a systematic review.Psychopharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Therapeutic Use of LSD in Psychiatry: A Systematic Review of Randomized-Controlled Clinical Trials.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Large-scale brain connectivity changes following the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide, d-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Autonomic nervous system activity correlates with peak experiences induced by DMT and predicts increases in well-being.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- LSD-assisted therapy in patients with anxiety: open-label prospective 12-month follow-up.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2024Trial
- Personality change in a trial of psilocybin therapy v. escitalopram treatment for depression.Psychological medicine · 2024Trial
- Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity in an open-label natural setting.Psychopharmacology · 2018Trial
- Long-lasting subjective effects of LSD in normal subjects.Psychopharmacology · 2018Trial
- Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of prosocial attitudes and behaviors.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2018Trial
- Moving beyond 5-HTPsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Embodied Transformation: Psychedelic Therapy Through the Lens of Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology.Integrative psychological & behavioral science · 2026Article
- Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy in Psychiatry: A Narrative Clinical Review of Mechanisms, Therapeutic Applications, and Emerging Evidence (2025-2026).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Hallucinogen-Psychosis Associations Are Confounded by Baseline Psychiatric History.The Journal of clinical psychiatry · 2026Article
- Integrating the Mystical Experience Questionnaire Into a Broader Psychometric Framework: English Validation of the Psychedelic Experience Scale and Comparison of Psilocybin and LSD Sessions Across Two Controlled Settings.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2026Article
- Mystical Experience Induced by Esketamine Treatment: A Real-World Observational Study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
This chapter begins with a brief review of descriptions and definitions of mystical-type experiences and the historical connection between classic hallucinogens and mystical experiences. The chapter then explores the empirical literature on experiences with classic hallucinogens in which claims about mystical or religious experiences have been made. A psychometrically validated questionnaire is described for the reliable measurement of mystical-type experiences occasioned by classic hallucinogens. Controlled laboratory studies show that under double-blind conditions that provide significant controls for expectancy bias, psilocybin can occasion complete mystical experiences in the majority of people studied. These effects are dose-dependent, specific to psilocybin compared to placebo or a psychoactive control substance, and have enduring impact on the moods, attitudes, and behaviors of participants as assessed by self-report of participants and ratings by community observers. Other studies suggest that enduring personal meaning in healthy volunteers and therapeutic outcomes in patients, including reduction and cessation of substance abuse behaviors and reduction of anxiety and depression in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, are related to the occurrence of mystical experiences during drug sessions. The final sections of the chapter draw parallels in human neuroscience research between the neural bases of experiences with classic hallucinogens and the neural bases of meditative practices for which claims of mystical-type experience are sometimes made. From these parallels, a functional neural model of mystical experience is proposed, based on changes in the default mode network of the brain that have been observed after the administration of classic hallucinogens and during meditation practices for which mystical-type claims have been made.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.