Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook

Abstract

Background Microdosing psychedelics is the practice of consuming very low, sub-hallucinogenic doses of a psychedelic substance, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or psilocybin-containing mushrooms. According to media reports, microdosing has grown in popularity, yet the scientific literature contains minimal research on this practice. There has been limited reporting on adverse events associated with microdosing, and the experiences of microdosers in community samples have not been categorized. Methods In the present study, we develop a codebook of microdosing benefits and challenges (MDBC) based on the qualitative reports of a real-world sample of 278 microdosers. Results We describe novel findings, both in terms of beneficial outcomes, such as improved mood (26.6%) and focus (14.8%), and in terms of challenging outcomes, such as physiological discomfort (18.0%) and increased anxiety (6.7%). We also show parallels between benefits and drawbacks and discuss the implications of these results. We probe for substance-dependent differences, finding that psilocybin-only users report the benefits of microdosing were more important than other users report. Conclusions These mixed-methods results help summarize and frame the experiences reported by an active microdosing community as high-potential avenues for future scientific research. The MDBC taxonomy reported here informs future research, leveraging participant reports to distil the highest-potential intervention targets so research funding can be efficiently allocated. Microdosing research complements the full-dose literature as clinical treatments are developed and neuropharmacological mechanisms are sought. This framework aims to inform researchers and clinicians as experimental microdosing research begins in earnest in the years to come. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12954-019-0308-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Microdosing psychedelics: Demographics, practices, and psychiatric comorbidities

“…This is an intriguing finding, and one which may also have its basis in the work of Fadiman, who has described microdosing psychedelics as “an extremely healthy alternative to Adderall” (Leonard, 2015). The potential role of psychedelic microdosing in improving attention, concentration, or other domains of cognitive performance fits with anecdotes reported in popular media, and was also reported as beneficial by respondents in our companion study of microdosing benefits and drawbacks (Anderson et al, 2019). These claims warrant further study using well-designed placebo-controlled trials.…”

“…Nearly two-thirds of these respondents (64.3%) reported that their dosing involved “guess work,” generally via fractions of LSD tabs obtained via illegal online markets (Winstock et al, 2017). This guess work was cited by many of our respondents as a significant drawback of microdosing (Anderson et al, 2019). We expect this issue to be present with psilocybin as well, as microdosers generally consume fractions of dried psilocybin mushrooms.…”

“…Despite these reports, there remains a dearth of academic research describing the practice of microdosing, including the specific substances consumed, doses and dosing schedules, and relevant demographic data of microdosers. Few scientific articles on microdosing among human subjects have been published, including two by our group (Anderson et al, 2018, 2019). Where relevant to our findings, these studies are discussed in greater detail below.…”

The therapeutic potential of microdosing psychedelics in depression

“…Despite the positive media coverage on microdosing, and its effects on social behaviour, creativity, and productivity, 56 reviewed scientific evidence demonstrates that the effects are not that pronounced, as one would expect. This might indicate that expectancy determines large part of the effect in users.…”

Psychedelics and potential benefits in “healthy normals”: A review of the literature

“…Research on psychedelic microdosing is still in its preliminary stages, but studies conducted to date warrant further research. Surveys of psychedelic microdosers have yielded reported benefits of improved mood, cognition, and creativity, which in some cases help counteract symptoms of depression and anxiety, although various challenges were also associated with the practice (Anderson, Petranker, Christopher, et al, 2019;Johnstad, 2018). One observational study found that microdosing was associated with a general increase in reported psychological functioning on dosing days, but little evidence of residual effects on following days.…”