How Psychedelics Influence Intimacy, Relationships and Sexuality: What a New Study Reveals
The conversation around psychedelics has expanded beyond mental health, increasingly touching on their potential to reshape intimacy, sexuality, and even identity itself.
A new study published in The Journal of Sex Research takes a first look at how psychedelic users perceive these changes in their lives. Through an anonymous, cross-sectional survey of over 500 individuals, the researchers explored whether psychedelics were associated with shifts in sexual attraction, relationship dynamics, gender identity, and intimacy, and if so, in what directions.
Key Takeaways
About 70% of participants reported that psychedelic experiences affected their sexuality or romantic relationships. Most changes were positive, including stronger attraction to partners, enhanced sexual experiences, and deeper emotional intimacy.
Around 10% of participants reported changes in gender identity or expression, describing a greater sense of authenticity and freedom from traditional gender norms.
After psychedelic use, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 8 men experienced increased same-sex attraction. Shifts in sexual attraction were even more common among participants with diverse gender identities.
Participants reported greater openness to polyamory and open relationships, but some also described a renewed commitment to monogamy after their experiences.
Study Overview: Who Participated and What Was Measured?
This anonymous study surveyed 581 adults over the age of 18, all of whom had used psychedelics at least once. Participants were recruited online and at a psychedelic advocacy event. They were asked to reflect on how their sexuality, relationship experiences, and sense of gender identity had changed before, during, and after psychedelic use.
Key measures included:
Acute effects (during the psychedelic experience)
Long-term effects (persisting after the experience)
Types of relationships (e.g., monogamy, polyamory)
Sexual orientation and gender identity
Frequency and type of psychedelic use
It’s important to note: this was not a controlled trial, but a cross-sectional study — meaning all data was based on participants’ own perceptions and memories at a single point in time without experimental manipulation or prospective tracking.
The Findings: How Psychedelics Affected Intimacy and Sexuality
Most participants — nearly 70% — reported that psychedelics influenced their sexuality and intimate lives. Two-thirds noticed changes during the experience itself, but about half also described ongoing effects past the experience.
Enhanced Attraction and Emotional Bonding
Participants were substantially more likely to say that psychedelics had increased their attraction to current partners, improved the quality of their romantic relationships, and intensified their sexual experiences.
Respondents were:
4x more likely to report increased attraction to their partners during the experience
7x more likely to feel increased long-term attraction to their partners after the experience
8x more likely to report improved sexual experiences than worsened ones after using psychedelics
This suggests that psychedelics may intensify feelings of connection, desire, and emotional closeness — effects that often extend beyond the acute state.
Shifts in Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression
Some participants also described changes in their sexual identity:
10% reported changes in gender identity or expression
25% of women and 12% of men reported increased same-sex attraction
Among non-binary and gender-diverse individuals, 1 in 3 noticed shifts in attraction
In free-text responses, many described a sense of freedom from binary gender norms, a feeling of greater authenticity, or even experiencing moments where the very notion of gender seemed irrelevant. Some also reported behavioural changes, such as beginning to dress differently or explore new aspects of their identity with greater openness.
Rethinking Relationship Structures
Another key finding was that psychedelics appeared to influence participants’ openness to different relationship models.
Some were more likely to share being in polyamorous or open relationships compared to before.
Others felt a deepened commitment to monogamy, suggesting that psychedelics may amplify underlying relational values rather than push in a singular direction.
These effects were more likely among:
Participants who used full doses (vs. microdosing)
Women and younger individuals
People with frequent psychedelic use in the past five years
Why Do Psychedelics Shift Intimacy, Identity, and Sexuality?
Psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA are known to:
Temporarily loosen deeply ingrained patterns of thinking and feeling.
Reduce rigid self-referential processing
Increase openness and empathy
In these altered states, social fears, habitual self-judgments, and culturally conditioned expectations tend to lose their grip. Individuals may experience themselves and others with greater openness, presence, and reduced defensiveness. This can create a rare psychological space where feelings of attraction, vulnerability, authenticity, and connection come into sharper relief.
The emotional insights and relational experiences that emerge during a psychedelic experience can seed longer-term changes in how people relate to their partners, their bodies, and their sexual or gender identity. Exploration of non-normative desires, greater acceptance of sexual fluidity, or a reimagining of relationship structures may feel more natural.
Experiences of “ego dissolution” — where the boundaries between self and other blur — may also help explain why intimacy can feel deeper, why emotional barriers can soften, and why attraction can broaden or shift.
Limitations and Future Directions
While this study provides compelling early data, its cross-sectional design and potential biases caution against overgeneralisation. Participants were self-selected and relied on memory-based accounts. Future research could benefit from:
Longitudinal studies tracking changes over time
Greater differentiation between substances
More diverse and representative samples
Conclusion: A Powerful, Underexplored Domain
This research adds to growing evidence that psychedelics do more than alleviate symptoms — they may restructure how we relate to ourselves and others at the most intimate levels of human life. For many, the journey includes greater authenticity, deeper emotional bonds, broadened sexual attraction, or a reimagined sense of gender.
As the field of psychedelic science continues advancing, so too must our understanding of how psychedelics impact sexuality, intimacy, identity and relationships— not as secondary considerations, but as central pillars of human wellbeing and experience.
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