Broadening Your Mind to Include Others: The relationship between serotonergic psychedelic experiences and maladaptive narcissism

Recent work has revived interest in classical serotonergic psychedelics (CSPs) for both clinical treatment and prosocial effects. Earlier research has shown that CSPs can reliably occasion mystical-type, self-transcendent states characterised by unity, awe, and reductions in self-focus; these states have been linked to lasting improvements in mood and well-being. The authors note that maladaptive narcissism—particularly the entitlement/exploitativeness facet associated with low affective empathy and interpersonal problems—has not been well studied in relation to psychedelic experiences, despite theoretical reasons to expect an inverse relationship driven by reductions in self-focus and increases in connectedness and empathy. Van Mulukom and colleagues set out to test whether recent CSP experiences that include high levels of awe and ego dissolution are associated with lower current levels of maladaptive narcissism, and whether any such relationship is sequentially mediated by increased feelings of connectedness and affective empathetic drive. The study pre-registered its hypotheses and analysis plan and used a correlational, cross-sectional survey design to probe these associations in a large sample of people reporting recent CSP experiences. Because the design is observational, the investigators emphasise that causal inferences are not claimed; the focus is on testing the hypothesised mediation model linking CSP-occasioned awe and ego dissolution to current empathy, connectedness, and narcissistic traits.

The study employed an online cross-sectional survey administered via Qualtrics. Recruitment targeted psychedelics-focused online communities and psychology-related sites; no incentives were offered. Of 518 respondents who completed the survey, 414 reported a classic serotonergic psychedelic (CSP) experience in the past five years and were analysed as the CSP users group. Participants ranged from 18 to 78 years (CSP users: mean age 30.0, SD = 11.5); 74.9% of CSP users identified as male. Residence and self-reported spirituality/religiosity were recorded. Measures focused on a single recalled ‘‘peak’’ experience from the past five years. For CSP users this was their most awe-inspiring or emotionally intense experience while under the influence of psychedelics. Key psychometric instruments included: a 15-item subset of the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S) using the connectedness and perceived vastness subscales (the self-diminishment subscale was later excluded from the main awe composite to avoid overlap with ego-dissolution measures); the eight-item Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI); a 20-item version of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) capturing affective and cognitive drive and ability; an adapted three-target Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale to index current connectedness to nature, humanity, and the universe; the NPI-13 short form of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory with an acknowledged survey error that resulted in one item being invalid and analyses proceeding on a 12-item version; and an eight-item Brief Sensation Seeking Scale as a control. The study reports internal consistency (Cronbach's α) for measures, noting lower-than-ideal reliability for some NPI scales and two ECQ subscales. Analytically, the investigators first examined bivariate associations and ran linear regressions to assess predictors of overall narcissism and the exploitative-entitled (EE) subscale. Their primary test was a multiple mediation model in which CSP-occasioned awe and ego-dissolution (measured for the recalled trip) were specified as antecedents predicting current affective empathetic drive and connectedness, which in turn predicted current EE narcissism. Sensation-seeking was retained as a covariate given its associations with both drug use and narcissism. The team also conducted moderator analyses testing whether time since the trip, frequency of CSP use in the past five years, or typical dose altered the pathways from awe to empathy/connectedness, and ran ANOVAs to test whether type of CSP influenced reported awe or ego-dissolution.

Descriptive results: Of the 414 CSP users whose data were analysed, 45.0% reported their peak experience involved psilocybin, 32.4% LSD, 8.0% DMT, 5.3% ayahuasca, with smaller percentages reporting mescaline/peyote, 5-MeO-DMT or other substances; 60.6% resided in the USA. Reported internal reliabilities varied: the AWE-S subscales and EDI showed acceptable consistency (AWE-S combined α = .89; EDI α = .81), whereas the NPI overall and its subscales performed poorly in this sample (overall NPI α = .59; EE α = .35), and two ECQ subscales had α below .7. Associations and regressions: Across participants, affective empathetic drive emerged as the strongest predictor among ECQ facets for both overall NPI and EE narcissism. In linear models, connectedness measures showed that connectedness to nature (b = −.12, 95% CI [−.23, −.01], p = .03) and to humanity (b = −.14, 95% CI [−.25, −.04], p = .007) were significantly associated with lower EE scores; connectedness to the universe did not predict EE in the reported model. NPI EE correlated weakly with age (r = −.10, p = .04) and with sensation-seeking (r = .11, p = .03), but these effects attenuated in partial correlations; sensation-seeking was retained as a control variable in subsequent analyses. Type of CSP did not significantly affect reported awe (F(6,386) = 1.13, p = .35) or ego-dissolution (F(6,386) = 1.19, p = .31). Mediation and moderator tests: The pre-registered multiple mediation model indicated a statistically significant indirect pathway in which higher levels of awe experienced during the recalled CSP trip were associated with greater current feelings of connectedness and higher affective empathetic drive, which in turn were associated with lower levels of exploitative-entitled narcissism. By contrast, measures of ego dissolution did not show the same mediated relationship to reduced maladaptive narcissism. Moderator analyses found no significant moderation by time elapsed since the trip on the links from awe to affective empathetic drive (b < .01, p = .20) or connectedness (b < .001, p = .78). Frequency of CSP use and typical dose also did not significantly influence current affective empathic drive or connectedness, nor did they moderate the indirect pathways from awe to narcissism (all reported p-values > .05). An exploratory regression examining components of awe indicated that the AWE-S connectedness subscale (rather than self-diminishment) was the component most strongly related to current affective empathetic drive and connectedness. Finally, awe experienced during the trip correlated positively with participants' ratings of the spirituality and religiousness of that trip.

Van Mulukom and colleagues interpret their findings as evidence that awe experienced during salient CSP trips is associated with enduring increases in feelings of connectedness and in affective empathetic drive, and that these increases are in turn associated with lower levels of maladaptive, exploitative-entitled narcissism. The authors emphasise that it was awe-related connectedness—not reported ego dissolution—that primarily accounted for the observed indirect relationship to lower maladaptive narcissism, a result they argue is consistent with theoretical accounts positing awe as a key psychological mechanism through which psychedelics promote prosociality and well-being. The discussion situates the results within earlier literature showing that CSPs can increase emotional empathy and enduring connectedness, and notes that the present data align with the idea that narcissists tend to lack the drive, rather than the capacity, for empathy. The investigators also highlight that connectedness to nature and to humanity, specifically, were linked to lower exploitative-entitled narcissism, whereas connectedness to the universe was not, and they suggest this may reflect differences in abstraction between these targets. An exploratory finding that trip spirituality correlated with AWE-S connectedness is noted as corroborating prior work linking spirituality and nature connectedness. Several limitations acknowledged by the authors temper interpretation. The design is cross-sectional and retrospective: participants reported on a single peak experience from the past five years, so causal claims about psychedelics reducing narcissism cannot be made. Measurement limitations are also discussed, including lower-than-ideal internal consistency for the NPI measures in this sample and a survey error that omitted one NPI item, reducing that scale to 12 items for analysis. The authors further note that some extracted discussion of potential neural mechanisms is incomplete in the available text. Finally, the preregistered comparison to non-CSP users could not be pursued as planned because the non-user subsample was underpowered, so analyses focused on the CSP group only. Despite these caveats, the authors conclude that their results encourage further experimental and longitudinal research to test whether CSP-assisted interventions that reliably elicit awe and connectedness might have therapeutic potential for disorders characterised by low connectedness and affective empathy, including pathological forms of narcissism.