AUTHOR=Deligianni Marianthi Lousiana , Studer Joseph , Gmel Gerhard , Khazaal Yasser , Bertholet Nicolas 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1056159

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1056159

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Background
Substance-induced altered states of consciousness (ASC) have mainly been studied among users of psychedelics but not among people using street drugs.
Aims
Explore occurrences of different types of substance-induced ASC 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
2796 young Swiss men lifetime substance users completed a self-report questionnaire including history of use (never, former, current) of different substances categories (psychedelics, cocaine, psychostimulants, ecstasy, MDMA, other drugs), the ASC types of oceanic boundlessness (OBN), visual restructuralization (VRS), and dread ego-dissolution (DED), the influence of ASC experiences on life, and personality traits (sensation seeking, sociability, anxiety-neuroticism, aggression–hostility).
Results
32.2% reported at least one ASC, with 20.5% reporting OBN, 16.7% VRS, and 14.5% DED. Former and current use of psychedelics and ketamine was significantly associated with occurrences of all ASCs and with a positive influence of ASCs on life. Associations between the former and current use of other substances and the different types of ASCs were less consistent, and perceived influences on life were not statistically significant. Sociability was negatively associated with occurrences of all ASCs. Positive associations were found between anxiety–neuroticism and OBN and DED, between aggression–hostility and DED, and between sensation seeking and OBN and VRS. 
Conclusions
This study supports the potential for psychedelics to induce ASCs perceived as beneficial to life among people using street drugs, possibly reflecting the mechanism underlying the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.