The positive and negative performance outcomes of psychedelic use in healthy adults: A narrative systematic review

Background and Aims: Evidence in the literature suggests a prevalence ofpsychedelic use and psychedelic use specifically for enhancing performance, butthere is currently no systematic review specifically investigating the effects ofpsychedelics on performance. This review aims to help contribute towards this gap inthe literature and explore the positive and negative performance outcomes ofpsychedelic use in healthy adults.Methods: The electronic databases Medline, PsycARTICLES and PsycInfo weresystematically searched. The results were screened then a narrative synthesis wasconducted on the resulting included studies.Results: 9 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies comprised of onequalitative study, one observational survey, five quantitative non-randomised studiesand two randomised controlled studies. The studies investigated the effects ofLSD/1P-LSD, psilocybin and Ayahuasca/DMT and generally produced mixed resultsin both micro-dose and full-dose psychedelics for enhancing performance.Conclusions: Generally, the evidence suggested that psychedelic use can enhancethe performance of relatively simple cognitive tasks like sustained attention andcreative tasks but impair the performance of more complex ones with no significanteffects on higher cognitive functioning. Ayahuasca/DMT appeared to be the moseffective in enhancing performance, especially for experienced users. More researchwould be beneficial for the evidence base in this area.