COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A new study from Ohio State University tries to predict who will have good or bad experiences on psychedelics used as therapy for mental health problems.

Psychedelic drugs have gained ground as a way to treat mental health disorders, but not everyone responds well to them, a press release from OSU said.

“The findings suggest that people more open to new experiences and willing to surrender to the unknown may be best positioned to have a positive experience on psychedelics, and individuals who tend to be preoccupied or apprehensive could be more likely to have a negative, or challenging, experience,” the press release said.

The study was conducted to help scientists win over hesitant clinical trial patients. They could offer lower doses as a starting point, researchers speculated.

“The findings point to interesting testable things we can look at in future research,” said Alan Davis, assistant professor of social work at The Ohio State University and senior author of the review. “It might be plausible to use threshold doses that are smaller than those used in a trial as a first exposure so people have less anxiety, experience the benefit and, from that, go into a higher dose later.”

Psychedelics may be effective in treating mood, anxiety, trauma-based and substance use disorders when used during therapy. People on psychedelics could have mystical, insightful, or challenging experiences, according to the release.

Researchers reviewed 14 published clinical trials and other types of studies conducted in recent years that documented participants’ personality traits or states of mind and their associations with a positive or negative experience on psychedelics.

Of the studies reviewed, 10 tested psilocybin (commonly known as magic mushrooms) as a therapy, two involved LSD, one used a hallucinogenic brew called ayahuasca and one examined psychedelic use in general.

“People who have experienced trauma are not very high in surrender, because they are anxious all the time about their past traumatic experiences,” he said. “A possibility to explore is starting with a low or moderate dose prior to giving the full therapeutic dose, which might help them increase in surrender. We’ve designed the study this way, thinking that might be helpful.”

The study is published online in the journal ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.