Magic Mushroom Use: A Qualitative Interview Study of Post-Trip Impacts and Strategies for Optimizing Experiences

ABSTRACT

The field of psychedelic research is undergoing a revival, yet research focused on non-clinical psychedelic use remains relatively limited. The current qualitative study sheds light on how people use magic mushrooms, what they perceive the effects of such use to be, and the meanings that users attach to their magic mushroom experiences. To be eligible to participate in the study, participants were required to be young adults who had used magic mushrooms within the past three months and residents of Victoria, Canada. Semi-structured, one-on-one in-person interviews regarding magic mushroom use habits, culture, knowledge and other factors were conducted with each participant and subsequently analyzed thematically. Participants associated magic mushroom use with lasting impacts on their lives including transformation and learning experiences. Additionally, participants described strategies to optimize their magic mushroom experiences, including engaging in research regarding magic mushrooms as well as making use of peer supports. Furthermore, aspects of magic mushroom experiences conceptualized as harmful in previous studies were described by participants as associated with learning experiences and few harms. Participants’ perceived positive outcomes and relatively low risk profile warrants further research to inform how magic mushroom users can maximize potential positive outcomes and also minimize harms.

KEYWORDS:

• Magic mushrooms
• psilocybin
• recreational use
• transformation
• harm reduction
• qualitative

Acknowledgments

LS was supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship - Masters Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. NJL was supported by a Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (#16863).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award [Scholar Award (#16863)].