How Can Psychedelics Positively Impact Your Romantic Relationships? What The Science Says
It’s true that any kind of substance we consume regularly will have an impact on our relationships, including the ones we have with our romantic partners.
Whether you’re a frequent consumer of booze, weed, magic mushrooms, LSD, or any other psychedelic out there, you may or may not realize that it affects your closest relationships. In the same vein, being completely sober can also affect your romantic relationships. The key is harnessing the power of those substances that have a positive impact on your life, and the relationships that you hold dear.
With the rising popularity of psychedelics, more research as well as anecdotal evidence shows that it could have a positive impact on different types of relationships, including romantic and sexual relationships.
How Psychedelics Affect Our Sexuality and Perceptions Of It
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Buffalo, whose results were published in the Journal of Sex Research, discovered that having psychedelic experiences positively affected the study participants’ views of their sexual activities, quality of their relationships, and even how attracted they are to their partners. For the study, investigators polled almost 600 people with experience consuming psychedelics, with the most common drugs being magic mushrooms, ecstasy, LSD, molly, and ketamine. They were surveyed on how their psychedelic consumption impacted different facets of their romantic relationships, sexuality, and gender identity.
“People in clinical trials and people going on psychedelic retreats in other countries have talked about a broad range of positive effects, including greater self-insight and feeling more connected to other people. Could there be benefits for intimate relationships in the long-term?” asks first author and research associate professor at the University of Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions, Daniel Kruger, PhD.
The researchers found that 70% of the respondents acknowledged that psychedelic experiences impacted their sexuality, and around 65% of them said that there were short-term effects, while 53% reported long-term effects. Meanwhile, some 10% said that psychedelic use had an influence on their gender identity as well as expression. Some even acknowledged that they went through gender fluidity experiences, and going through waves that took them from feminine to masculine energies.
“I think the biggest surprise for me was the increase in same-sex attraction, reported by a quarter of women and about one in eight men,” explained Kruger.
This is the first study of its kind to examine these topics, though Kruger said that he intends to do more research to better understand the findings.
The Impact On Sexual Health and Sexual Partners
There’s other research that takes a closer look into how psychedelics affect sex as a whole. It’s interesting because while some people do know that sex is much better on certain drugs, a great deal of people don’t exactly start doing psychedelics to have sex: people use it for therapeutic purposes – and that could be therapeutic mentally, physically, or spiritually.
But now, psychedelics may even potentially aid relationship healing through sex.
A study on the impact of psychedelics on sex lives, whose results were published in 2024 in the Nature Scientific Reports journal, was conducted by investigators from the Imperial College London Centre for Psychedelic Research. They polled almost 300 individuals before and after they engaged in psychedelics.
The investigators then combined the results from two groups of respondents: individuals who consumed psychedelics for wellness or recreational purposes, and a small group of people taking psilocybin for a clinical trial evaluating its effects on depression. Through these responses, they yielded interesting insight on the various ways psychedelics impact sexual function. On average, they found that the respondents acknowledged improvements on different types of sexual function, sometimes as much as 6 months after consuming psychedelics.
Specifically, the study participants mentioned improvement in sex enjoyment, arousal, their own physical appearance, an attraction and connection to their partner, and communication. Additionally, nearly half of the small group who was taking psilocybin for a clinical trial on depression reported improvements in their satisfaction and interest in sex, but those individuals who were given a popular antidepressant said they suffered from a decrease in sexual function.
The findings pave the way for more applications in various types of therapy, such as couples’ therapy.
“We believe this is the first scientific study to explore the effects of psychedelics on sexual functioning. Our findings suggest potential implications for conditions that negatively affect sexual health, including clinical depression and anxiety,” reported Tommaso Barba, the study’s first author and a PhD student at the Centre for Psychedelic Research.
What’s especially important here is how psychedelics actually improve sexual functioning, whereas the same aspect suffers when most patient are treated with antidepressants. In fact, sexual dysfunction is one of the most common side effects of antidepressants. Perhaps, psychedelics may one day be used as an alternative to pharmaceutical antidepressants for treating depression?
“On the surface, this type of research may seem ‘quirky’, but the psychological aspects of sexual function – including how we think about our own bodies, our attraction to our partners, and our ability to connect to people intimately – are all important to psychological wellbeing in sexually active adults,” Barba said.
Conclusion
While it’s still an emerging field of research, these studies strongly suggest that we could be on to something: psychedelics do have an impact on our sexuality, sexual health, and even gender fluidity. The strong responses are something that we can’t ignore, which is exciting news.
It’s thrilling because understanding more about psychedelics and how it affects our sexual lives can unlock a key on how we can better influence our romantic and sexual relationships. It’s entirely possible that psychedelics may even be the missing key for many people, and it could potentially be the one thing that can help improve intimacy, communication, emotional connection, and attraction.
PSYCHEDELICS AND CANNABIS, READ ON...
