Adverse reactions among psychedelic users: Norwegian validation of the Challenging Experience Questionnaire
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs, known for their potent psychoactive effects, have gained attention for their potential therapeutic benefits in treating mental disorders.However, distressing experiences induced by psychedelics can lead to adverse long-term effects. To better assess these experiences, we aimed to provide a Norwegian translation and psychometric validation of the Challenging Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), a key tool for evaluating adverse psychedelic experiences. Our study employed an anonymous online survey targeting Norwegian recreational psychedelic users, focusing on their most memorable psychedelic encounter. A sample of 729 participants, predominantly male (73%) and aged between 26-35 years (41%), with 90% having used LSD or psilocybin, was analyzed. Half of the participants had completed a university degree, and 48% reported a diagnosed mental disorder. The CEQ underwent a rigorous seven-stage translation process and was included in the survey to validate the original 7-factor structure. Our findings revealed excellent internal consistency (alpha = 0.94) and robust overall model fit (χ 2 [278] = 1451.80, RMSEA = .076, SRMR = .051, CFI = .913) for the 7-factor model, with evidence of factorial invariance across gender and psychiatric status. Further, the relationship between reported difficulty and CEQ factors such as fear, grief, insanity, and death underscored its convergent validity. In conclusion, our study confirms the 7-factor structure of the CEQ while demonstrating its reliability and validity. This provides Norwegian researchers with a culturally adapted, psychometrically valid tool for assessing complex adverse reactions to psychedelic use. • 729 participant responses analyzed, matching other studies' demographics. • Norwegian CEQ internal consistency was high (α = 0.94) • Confirmatory factor analysis confirms 7-factor model fit • Factor structure invariant across gender/psychiatric status groups. • Significant relationship between CEQ factors and later well-being and difficulty.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".