Flourishing and psychotic experiences among college students in the United States: Findings from the Healthy Minds Study 2020

Psychotic experiences are prevalent in the general population and have gained attention in public health and preventive medicine because they appear to signal mental and physical health status. Most studies focus on the relations between psychotic experiences and negative outcomes, overlooking aspects of flourishing. We analyzed data from the Healthy Minds Study (September – December 2020; N = 30,528), and found that approximately 14.6% of the sample reported a psychotic experience over the past 12 months, and approximately 37.61% of the sample was flourishing. Using multivariable logistic regression, we found flourishing was associated with 52% lower odds of having psychotic experiences (aOR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.43–0.54), adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. The association attenuated slightly but remained statistically significant after the additional adjustments for mental and physical health conditions. In conclusion, flourishing was inversely related to psychotic experiences.