How we experience psychedelics isn’t just about dosage, set, and setting—it’s also shaped by who we are. New research suggest that personality plays a major role in determining whether a psychedelic journey feels expansive and mystical, or difficult and challenging (Kajonius, Sjöström, and Claesdotter-Knutsson, 2025).
This finding might not be surprising, but now we’ve got the data to back it up. Let’s dive in.
The Big Five Personality Traits
The study used the Big Five model of personality, which measures five broad traits:
- Openness – curiosity, imagination, and receptivity to new experiences
- Conscientiousness – discipline, organization, and self-control
- Extraversion – sociability and positive affect
- Agreeableness – empathy, cooperation, and compassion
- Neuroticism – emotional instability, sensitivity to stress, and negative affect
The Big Five is the most widely respected personality model in psychology—and one I’ve personally found very useful.
What the Research Found
A striking 82% of participants rated their psychedelic experiences among the top ten most meaningful events of their lives. That’s consistent with past studies. But this research went deeper, asking people to reflect on:
- Mystical qualities of the experience
- Challenges they faced
- Lasting positive and negative impacts
When the researchers compared these reflections with Big Five personality scores, a pattern emerged:
- High openness → more mystical, positive experiences
- High neuroticism → more challenging, negative experiences
In other words, personality traits influenced how people processed and integrated their journeys.
Why This Matters
This insight is crucial for anyone preparing for a psychedelic experience. If you score high in neuroticism, you may be more vulnerable to difficult trips. But here’s the hopeful twist: personality traits are not fixed.
Psychologists once believed that the Big Five were stable across a lifetime. But we now know that certain life experiences—including psychedelics themselves—can shift them. Psychedelics often increase openness and reduce neuroticism, which is part of why they can be so transformative.
Still, that’s not much help if you’re about to take your very first journey. So what else can help?
Nature Connection for Preparation
Research suggests that deepening your connection with nature can have a similar effect:
- Increasing openness
- Reducing neuroticism
(Ríos-Rodríguez et al., 2024)
In my own work, I’ve found that spending intentional time in nature not only supports psychedelic preparation, but also aids in integration afterward. Nature itself can be a kind of medicine—helping us soften defenses, expand awareness, and approach life with more curiosity and presence.
Embodied Pathways and the “Shallow Self”
This fits neatly with my model, which views both psychedelic experience and nature connection as embodied pathways of connection. Both tend to loosen neurotic tendencies and foster openness.
If we’re stuck at the tip of the Experiential Iceberg—in what I call the shallow self—we remain isolated, defensive, and reactive. But as our awareness deepens, we shift into a state of mind Carl Rogers (1961) described as “openness to experience.” This expanded awareness is less neurotic, more integrated, and far more capable of growth.
Key Takeaways
- Personality matters: Openness and neuroticism strongly influence the quality of psychedelic experiences.
- Personality can change: Both psychedelics and nature connection can shift traits in a positive direction.
- My model helps explain why: All of the embodied pathways shift us out of the shallow self into a more expanded awareness.
Psychedelics aren’t one-size-fits-all. Who you are—and how connected you feel to the world around you—shapes how the medicine meets you. Preparing by cultivating openness and easing trait neuroticism, especially through nature connection, may make all the difference.