Consciousness alterations in a cohort of young Swiss men: Associations with substance use and personality traits

Marianthi Lousiana Deligianni; Joseph Studer; Gerhard Gmel; Yasser Khazaal; Nicolas Bertholet

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1056159

Consciousness alterations in a cohort of young Swiss men: Associations with substance use and personality traits

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jan 4:13:1056159. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1056159. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Marianthi Lousiana Deligianni¹, Joseph Studer^{1

2}, Gerhard Gmel^{1

3

4

5}, Yasser Khazaal^{1

6}, Nicolas Bertholet¹

Affiliations

¹ Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
² Service of Adult Psychiatry North-West, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ Research Department, Addiction Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Health and Social Science, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom.
⁶ Research Centre, Montreal University Institute of Mental Health, Montreal, QC, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Substance-induced consciousness alterations (CA) have mainly been studied among users of psychedelics but not among people using street drugs.

Aims: Explore occurrences of three different types of substance-induced CA [ego dissolution (ED), visual pseudo-hallucinations (VPH), anxiety/paranoia (A/P)] and their perceived influences on life, together with their associations with substance use and personality correlates in a general population sample of 25-year-old men.

Methods: 2,796 young Swiss men lifetime substance users completed a self-report questionnaire including history of use (never, former, and current) of different substances categories (psychedelics, cocaine, psychostimulants, ecstasy, MDMA, and other drugs), substance-induced ego dissolution (ED), visual pseudo-hallucinations (VPH) and anxiety/paranoia (A/P), the influence of these CA experiences on life, and personality traits (sensation seeking, sociability, anxiety-neuroticism, and aggression-hostility).

Results: 32.2% reported at least one CA (i.e., ED, VPH or A/P), with 20.5% reporting ED, 16.7% VPH, and 14.6% A/P. Former and current use of psychedelics and ketamine was significantly associated with occurrences of all three types of CAs and with a positive influence of CA on life. Associations between the former and current use of other substances and the different types of CA were less consistent, and perceived influences on life were not statistically significant. Sociability was negatively associated with occurrences of all three types of CA. Positive associations were found between anxiety-neuroticism and ED and A/P, between aggression-hostility and A/P, and between sensation seeking and ED and VPH.

Conclusion: This study supports the potential for psychedelics to induce CAs perceived as beneficial to life among people using street drugs, possibly reflecting the mechanism underlying the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.

Keywords: altered states of consciousness; personality; psychedelics; substance use; young men.