The Relationship between Anxiety Vulnerability Factors, Psychedelic Drug Use and Trait Anxiety

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Distress tolerance (DT), anxiety sensitivity (AS), and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) are transdiagnostic vulnerability factors for emotional distress. Some have argued that AS and IU are components of DT but this hypothesis has not been properly addressed yet, and neither has their relationship to trait anxiety. Self-report studies and to lesser extent small clinical trials suggest that use of psychedelic drugs may help lower anxiety and depression, possibly because they increase the user’s tolerance for distress either pharmacologically or psychologically. The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationship between trait anxiety, DT, AS, IU and psychedelic drug use. METHOD: A survey was posted online that included measures of IU, DT, AS, trait anxiety, the mystical quality of psychedelic drug use (MEQ), and questions about frequency of psychedelic drug use; 640 adults responded. RESULTS: Correlations between DT, AS and IU suggest they are overlapping constructs. Regression analysis showed that the relationship between DT, AS, IU and trait anxiety differed between the participants that had used psychedelic drugs and the ones that had not. The three transdiagnostic vulnerability factors were only weakly related to whether participants reported a transformative experience from psychedelic drug use. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanisms by which psychedelic drug use lessens anxiety and depression remains unclear but it is possible that they do so through changes in DT, AS and IU. Further study is needed.