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Review
. 2025 Nov;15(11):e71043.
doi: 10.1002/brb3.71043.

The Relationship Between Psychedelic Use and Positive Adult Development in Emerging Adulthood: An Integrative Review

Jake Payne  1 , Oliver Robinson  2 , Kevin St Arnaud  3 , Jacob S Aday  4 , Melissa Warner  1 , Chris Ludlow  1 , Greg Murray  1
Affiliations
Review

The Relationship Between Psychedelic Use and Positive Adult Development in Emerging Adulthood: An Integrative Review

Jake Payne et al. Brain Behav. 2025 Nov.

Abstract

Preliminary evidence suggests that classic psychedelics may exert lasting positive effects on individuals' mood, cognition, and personality, but little is known about how these effects may differ across the lifespan. Emerging adulthood (18-29) is a critical developmental stage in which individuals transition from dependence on community institutions toward full independence. It is a time when psychedelic experimentation is common, and psychedelics could have distinctive psychological impacts during this phase, although the developmental significance of such effects remains largely untested. This integrative review offers a framework to generate hypotheses regarding possible ways that psychedelic use may positively interact with emerging adult development. Here, we review pathways by which classic psychedelics may facilitate emerging adults' positive orthogenetic, veridical-epistemic, eudaimonic, relational, and ethical developmental trajectories through changes in personality trait openness, belief systems, self-insight, and social concern. Finally, we offer future research directions and discuss key challenges for research into studying the developmental impact of classic psychedelic use in emerging adulthood.

Keywords: classic psychedelics; developmental psychology; emerging adulthood; positive adult development.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Robinson's (2020) five trajectories of positive adult development.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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