Mystics once spent years meditating in caves in search of transcendence. Today, a growing number of people believe something similar can be reached in a single afternoon with the help of a psychedelic drug. Swallow a capsule of psilocybin or take a carefully supervised dose of LSD and you may encounter what many describe as one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives.
Author
- Michiel van Elk
Associate Professor, Cognitive Psychology, Leiden University
Modern clinical trials appear to support this. Several studies suggest that the intensity of a "mystical-type experience" during a psychedelic session predicts the degree of improvement in depression, anxiety or addiction. A recent review , for example, reports a consistent statistical link between mystical experiences and improved mental health.
It is an enticing idea: that healing comes through a profound encounter with unity, sacredness or ultimate reality. But do we really need mystical experiences to get better?
To understand why this question matters, it helps to step back. Long before psychedelics entered psychiatry, philosophers and theologians were fascinated by mystical states. In the early 20th century, the psychologist William James argued in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience that mystical states should be judged "by their fruits, not by their roots" - meaning by their effects on people's lives rather than by debates about their metaphysical truth.
Others, including the British writer on Christian mysticism Evelyn Underhill and the philosopher of religion Walter Stace, developed what later became known as "perennial philosophy" : the idea that a common core experience lies at the heart of the world's religions.
This way of thinking has quietly shaped modern psychedelic science. In 1962, the psychiatrist Walter Pahnke conducted the Good Friday Experiment , giving theology students psilocybin in a church. Many reported experiences that were strikingly similar to those described by classical mystics.
Around the same time, British-born psychiatrist Humphry Osmond - who coined the word "psychedelic" - developed treatment approaches designed to induce powerful "peak experiences" that could trigger lasting psychological change.
Today, large clinical trials at universities such as Johns Hopkins and Imperial College London have revived this approach. Researchers routinely measure whether participants have had a "mystical-type experience" using a standardised questionnaire known as the mystical experience questionnaire , or MEQ.
Participants are asked to rate statements such as "I had an experience of unity with ultimate reality" or "I had an experience which cannot be described adequately in words". The higher the score, the more likely someone is classified as having had a full mystical experience.
But this raises a conundrum. If an experience is supposedly "ineffable" - beyond words - how accurately can it be captured by ticking boxes on a survey?
Some critics argue that the MEQ builds in assumptions drawn from perennial philosophy. By asking about "ultimate reality" or "sacredness", it may reflect a particular interpretation of mystical experience rather than a neutral description. As one analysis notes , there is a risk that the scale partly reproduces the very theory it aims to test.
Expectations may further complicate matters
Many participants in psychedelic trials arrive already primed for transcendence. They have read glowing media coverage, listened to podcasts or watched documentaries promising life-changing breakthroughs. Research shows that such expectations can significantly shape subjective drug experiences.
My colleagues and I saw just how powerful suggestion can be in a study nicknamed "tripping with the god helmet" . Participants wore a sham brain-stimulation device that we described as capable of activating their "mystical lobes". In reality, no stimulation was delivered. Yet nearly half reported mystical-type experiences, some describing them as deeply meaningful.
In another experiment, placebo psychedelics administered in a carefully staged environment - complete with evocative music and imagery - produced strikingly similar reports . These findings suggest that context and expectation are not minor side notes. They can play a central role in shaping what people experience.
None of this means psychedelic therapy is "just a placebo". The drugs clearly alter brain activity and experience in powerful ways. But it does raise the possibility that mystical experiences are not the sole or even primary driver of therapeutic change.
After all, correlation does not equal causation. A large body of psychiatric research warns against assuming that because two things occur together, one must cause the other . Mystical experiences may simply be one visible marker of other processes, such as increased emotional openness, the development of new neural connections or changes in entrenched beliefs.
Super placebos
Some researchers have even described psychedelics as super placebos : substances that amplify expectancy effects rather than bypass them. That may sound dismissive, but it points to something important. Expectations, beliefs and meaning-making are not incidental to healing; they are often central to it.
When used carefully in structured settings, psychedelics may act less like magic bullets and more like catalysts. They intensify whatever psychological processes are already underway.
For some, that may include feelings of unity and transcendence. For others, it may involve confronting grief, fear or long-buried memories. Stanislav Grof, a pioneer of psychedelic therapy, once compared these substances to microscopes for the mind - tools that reveal otherwise hidden aspects of experience.
The key point is this: while mystical experiences often go hand in hand with improvement, they may not be essential. And on their own, they may not be enough to create lasting change.
Lasting therapeutic benefits appear to emerge from a web of interacting factors: brain changes, emotional breakthroughs, supportive settings, skilled therapists and the integration work that follows the session. Focusing too narrowly on whether someone scored above a mystical threshold risks oversimplifying a complex process.
The psychedelic renaissance has opened exciting possibilities for mental health treatment. But if the field is to mature, it may need to move beyond the assumption that transcendence is the secret ingredient.
The future of psychedelic therapy may depend less on chasing mystical peaks and more on understanding the conditions that help people translate intense experiences - mystical or otherwise - into durable, meaningful change.
Disclosuree Michiel van Elk receives funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant id# VI.Vidi.191.107). He is affiliated as board member with Open Foundation ( https://open-foundation.org ).
