Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Innovation Village IV5, Cheetah Road, Coventry, CV1 2TL, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129B, 1018, XA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2020 Sep;237(9):2725-2737. doi: 10.1007/s00213-020-05568-y. Epub 2020 May 29.
Recent research has shown that classical serotonergic psychedelic (CSP) drugs may be used to ameliorate certain health issues and disorders. Here we hypothesised that CSP experiences, through their ability to induce awe and ego-dissolution, may result in a reduction of maladaptive narcissistic personality traits, such as a strong sense of entitlement and lack of empathy.
Our objective was to investigate whether high levels of awe and ego dissolution during recent CSP experiences are associated with currently lower levels of maladaptive narcissism.
In this pre-registered high-powered (N = 414) study, we used an online retrospective survey asking participants to describe their 'most awe-inspiring, impressive, significant, or emotionally intense experience', as well as several validated scales to test our hypothesis.
A statistically significant mediation model indicated that recent CSP-induced experiences were associated with currently increased feelings of connectedness and affective empathetic drive, which in turn were associated with decreased exploitative-entitled narcissism. This relationship held even when taking into account sensation-seeking personality features. We found no evidence for feelings of ego dissolution to have the same effect.
Feelings of awe, but not ego dissolution, during recent CSP experiences were associated with increased feelings of connectedness and empathy, which in turn were associated with decreased levels of maladaptive narcissism personality features. This suggests that CSPs hold therapeutic potential for disorders involving connectedness and empathy, such as the treatment of pathological narcissism, and that the induction of connectedness through awe appears to be the driving force behind this potential.
最近的研究表明，经典的血清素能致幻（CSP）药物可用于改善某些健康问题和障碍。在这里，我们假设 CSP 体验，通过其引起敬畏和自我消解的能力，可能会导致适应不良的自恋人格特质的减少，例如强烈的权利感和缺乏同理心。
我们的目的是调查在最近的 CSP 体验中是否存在高水平的敬畏和自我消解与当前较低水平的适应不良自恋有关。
在这项预先注册的高功率（N = 414）研究中，我们使用在线回顾性调查，要求参与者描述他们“最令人敬畏、印象深刻、重要或情绪激动的经历”，以及几个经过验证的量表来检验我们的假设。
一个具有统计学意义的中介模型表明，最近的 CSP 引起的体验与当前增加的联系感和情感同理心驱动有关，而这反过来又与剥削性的、有权利感的自恋减少有关。即使考虑到寻求刺激的人格特征，这种关系仍然存在。我们没有发现自我消解感有相同效果的证据。
在最近的 CSP 体验中，敬畏感而不是自我消解感与联系感和同理心的增强有关，而这反过来又与适应不良的自恋人格特征的减少有关。这表明 CSP 可能对涉及联系和同理心的障碍具有治疗潜力，例如病理性自恋的治疗，而通过敬畏感产生的联系感似乎是这种潜力的驱动力。
