Impact of psychedelic drugs 'could be linked to age'
GettyAge could play an important role in how psychedelic drug use relates to mental health, according to new research.
Researchers from Durham University found adults with a history of using classic psychedelics, such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and LSD, reported lower levels of anxiety and depression than non-users - but only in younger age groups.
The associations became weaker with increasing age and were no longer evident among older adults, researchers said.
The findings came from a survey of 1,088 adults aged 18 to 55 and over, with participants asked about their lifetime use of psychedelic substances and measured for anxiety, depression, wellbeing, and life satisfaction.
The research comes amid growing scientific interest in the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental health conditions.
The research team stressed the findings did not establish a causal relationship between psychedelic use and mental health.
Instead, they said it identified an association between lifetime psychedelic use and current mental health, while highlighting age as an important factor that should be explored in future research.
The study was also observational and relied on participants reporting their own experiences.
Research lead Giammarco Di Gregorio said: "Age remains a relatively underexplored factor in psychedelic research.
"There's growing evidence that younger people tend to have more intense, mystical-type experiences while on psychedelics - our study suggests this may matter for mental health."
Dr Marco Bocchio said: "A novelty of our study was the inclusion of a comparison group of people who had used 'non classic psychedelics', such as ketamine or MDMA, but not classic psychedelics.
"This helped us test whether the patterns we observed were specific to classic psychedelics, rather than reflecting broader differences between people who are drawn to psychoactive substances and altered states of consciousness."
The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has previously said it facilitates clinical research, but it is still too early to know whether psychedelic treatments might one day become routinely available.