Scientists Aren't Sure If Psychedelics Make Us More Creative

Happy Monday! Welcome to another edition of The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter delivering independent journalism about psychedelics straight to your inbox.

Today’s lead story is about the creative inspiration catalyzed by the psychedelic experience. If you’re reading this newsletter, you have probably felt more creative while under the influence of our favorite Schedule I’s. Or maybe you felt it afterwards. But researchers are now saying that psychedelic compounds might not actually make us more creative. So, what’s the deal? Do they or don’t they? You’ll have to read on to find out.

If you keep scrolling, you’ll find stories about primal embodiment, lab testing “mushroom” products, and plant-based MDMA.

Stay creative🌀,

Mary Carreón
Editor-in-Chief

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Do Psychedelics Really Make Us More Creative?

New data suggests psychedelics might not be the creative catalyst we previously thought, but did the study accurately measure creativity?

Psychedelics carry a reputation for cracking open the mind, allowing people to tap into their creative genius. But new research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests that psychedelics may not actually have this effect on our ingéniosité.

The study, reported on by PsyPost, examined 30 healthy men in three randomized, double-blind sessions, during which they received either DMT + harmine, harmine alone, or a placebo. Researchers measured two tiers of creativity. At the micro level, participants tackled standard lab tasks, generating many uses for everyday objects. This is known as divergent thinking. Then they were asked to pinpoint a single correct solution from visual clues, also known as convergent thinking.

At the macro level, they painted freely on a tablet while noting where they were in the creative arc — planning, incubating, producing, or hitting an “aha” moment. Under the influence of DMT and harmine, individuals struggled more with convergent thinking, especially those who typically excelled on the placebo; divergent thinking didn’t reliably improve, either, and showed hints of decline in fluency and elaboration. In the open-ended art task, transitions in and out of the incubation phase dropped, and the pathway from quiet reflection to insight seemed to fray. Meanwhile, subjective reports of meaning and “insight” spiked without objective gains.

"I’ve always been fascinated by the link between altered states and creative cognition," says Dila Suay of the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca. "Psychedelics are often described as creativity-enhancing, yet the scientific evidence is mixed and sometimes paradoxical."

That paradox is the crux. Do these findings mean psychedelics dampen creativity? Not necessarily. The literature is patchy and split by time scale and task type. For example, a naturalistic microdosing study found boosts in both divergent and convergent thinking after low doses of psychedelic truffles, though it lacked placebo controls and called for stricter trials.

Another placebo-free ayahuasca study reported enhanced divergent thinking (with convergent thinking dipping acutely), implying certain creative capacities can expand even as others contract.

And, in a lab study using psilocybin, participants reported feeling more spontaneous insight during the acute session; a week later, they generated more novel ideas, suggesting delayed benefits that standard same-day tests might miss.

So the question we have regarding this new research is: Are we measuring creativity at the right moment? The DMT and harmine trial captured acute effects in a tightly controlled setting, utilizing well-worn tasks that support structured problem-solving. But creativity in the wild is far from linear — and it often doesn’t look like this. It’s iterative and deeply contextual. And the mixed results from different studies suggest that psychedelics might shake up how ideas usually form. Instead of following a strict, top-down pattern of thinking, they may reduce rigid control and allow freer, more spontaneous neural connections, which, ultimately, is a view supported by earlier research linking psychedelic states to changes in the brain’s default-mode network and in how thoughts flow.

"Our findings show that psychedelics don’t simply ‘boost creativity,’" Suay says to PsyPost. "A DMT and harmine formulation impaired structured problem-solving while leaving idea generation largely unchanged… psychedelics may shift how creativity unfolds rather than making us ‘more creative’ in a straightforward sense."

Plus, the limitations of this study should be considered when evaluating the results. First, the sample size was all-male; the men in the study responded to the DMT/harmine very differently; and the researchers only measured effects while participants were high and not later on.

Still, taken alongside studies that show potential upticks in divergent thinking or later-emerging originality, the long-held belief that psychedelics can widen perspective isn’t dead — it’s just more conditional, more nuanced, and more about the when and how we look for the spark than we previously thought.

Heeding the Lessons From Cannabis

In our second iteration of Please Trip Responsibly, writer Patrick Maravelias urges the psychedelic community to learn from cannabis’ victories — and its grave missteps —before history repeats itself. Drawing parallels between the green rush and the coming wave of psychedelic reform, he argues that avoiding “quasi-medical logic,” resisting the glorification of overconsumption, and investing in real lobbying could be the difference between true adult access and a future ruled by Big Pharma’s patents.

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DoubleBlind Digs

• Want to help bring a hand-crafted mushroom board game to life? Back Shroomscape on Kickstarter and help three independent women designers share their magical mycelial world with the world. Learn more about the project here!

• Send in your abstracts for Chacruna’s Psychedelic Culture 2026! Abstracts should be between 150-250 words, one paragraph only, and they should summarize your proposal and why it is relevant to this conference and the current psychedelic field. Learn more and apply here!

• Amber is Nutritious’ new five-track odyssey on Liquid Culture. It takes you through a journey of coastal sunsets and urban nightlife, blending organic and melodic house with dope jazz-funk grooves. Listen here!

• Plant Parenthood is hosting an integration circle in Detroit! If you’re in the area, check it out. Learn more here.

• If you’re in LA and want to learn how to grow mushrooms of all kinds and hang with cool people who make vibey music, you’re in luck! Tarun Nayar / Modern Biology is a viral ‘mushroom musician’ who creates soundscapes from the bioelectric changes in plants and mushrooms. He’s invited some of his favourite mycologists, ecologists, poets, and musicians to celebrate the plant and fungal kingdoms and inspire hope and resilience at an event called Mushroom Church. Learn more about the event here!

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