Benefits of Microdosing Psychedelics

The Benefits of Microdosing Psychedelics

The benefits of microdosing psychedelics, which involves consuming sub-threshold doses of psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, has recently been gaining more public attention. For example, the subreddit r/microdosing has seen a significant increase in its subscriber count within the past 2 years, growing from around 40,000 in November 2018 to almost 140,000 as of January 2021.

Microdosing Psychedelics

Personality, Mental Health, and Creativity Differences in Microdosers

The article below is part of Frshminds’ “Psychedelic Science Snapshot Series” where Frshminds reviews the latest in psychedelic research.

Summarized by: Emily Fewster

Introduction to The Benefits of Microdosing Psychedelics

There is much question in the scientific community today about the benefits of microdosing. From what research has been conducted globally, the results are somewhat mixed and the true benefits of microdosing remain unclear. Those results that advocate for microdosing cite improved mood, focus, and creativity, as well as decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety. Other studies see no effect beyond a placebo. Decreases in depression and anxiety are clearly seen in research on “full-dose” psychedelic sessions, as well as efficacy in the treatment of other conditions such as OCD, addiction, and end-of-life anxiety. It is likely that interest in microdosing stemmed from the clinical benefits reported from full dose sessions. But it has not been made entirely clear that these benefits also occur without any perceptual distortions.

Full-dose experiences can be intense and researchers are still navigating whether the intensity and potential unpleasantness of the experience is key to the outcome. Some small percentage of people who consume psychedelics in a high dose may have long-term changes to their visual and audio perception.
This, coupled with the lack of research on safe dosage and aftercare, makes some clinicians reticent to undertake trials. As a result, some research (including that conducted here, for microdosing) relies on self-reporting from participants.

Microdosing Psychedelics: How, and Why, Should it Work?

How precisely psychoactives bring about positive changes is still a bit unclear. But the presumption amongst microdosing advocates is that consuming a ‘microdose’ would bring the same benefits to a lesser degree (as compared to someone who doesn’t microdose). Advocates (and research-samples-of-one) commonly cite improved mood, creativity, openness, and reduced negative thinking.

Mental health vulnerability

In a recent controlled study of microdosers and a control group, participants were asked to self-report a) the presence of any diagnosed mental health issues, and b) the degree to which they had thoughts and attitudes that aligned with such a diagnosis. Not surprisingly, those that reported having actively or recently microdosed reported significantly lower scores on dysfunctional attitudes, even when controlling for a history of mental illness. Whether the participant was actively microdosing or had done so in the past did not seem to make a difference. The specific substance they used for microdosing (specifically, psilocybin vs. LSD, which were the compounds evaluated) also did not make much difference. Finally, the relative amount of microdosing activity that one previously engaged in also did not yield a signficant difference. The inference of course is that, whether via actual changes to brain chemistry or a placebo-inspired belief in efficacy, microdosing seems to bring dramatic improvements to most consumers.

Wisdom

A sense of ‘wisdom’ is hard to quantify. Studies meant to assess impacts on perceived wisdom say that it relates to certain perceived characteristics. These include the ability to learn from your mistakes, being considerate of alternative points of view, and being ’emotionally intelligent’ (both of yourself and others). Not surprisingly, microdosers self-reported higher wisdom scores regardless of their underlying demography (age and education). Once again, whether the participant was currently microdosing or had done so previously did not seem to matter. The particular compound they were using did not matter. And the duration in which they were microdosing also did not seem to matter.

Personality

Like wisdom, quantifying one’s ‘personality’ uses a somewhat qualitative model. Psychologists refer to the ‘five factors’: 1) how extroverted someone is; 2) how argumentative they are; 3) how empathetic they are; 4) how neurotic and/or negative they are; and 5) how open to change or new experience they are. The impact of microdosing was more significant on some of these factors than others. For example, microdosers were found to be more open-minded across all participants (however, the fact that they were engaged in microdosing may suggest some bias). Similarly, microdosers reported significantly lower levels of negativity and neuroticism. But the effects seen across other factors were less significant.

Creativity

Creativity is perhaps even more difficult to quantify, as there is no intrinsic ‘yardstick’ to measure relative creativity against. It is believed that there is a clear link between someone’s general positivity and their creativity, as a lack of negative thoughts and feelings make someone more predisposed to use their brain activity to think broadly, rather than reacting to the negative stimuli. Yet again, microdosing was a strong predictor of relative creativity scores.

Frequency and Scheduling of Microdosing

Prior to the study, researchers presumed that microdosers would indicate that they found an increasing rate of benefits up to a certain level, at which these reports would hit a ‘ceiling’ of efficacy. It was also presumed, per common anecdotal evidence, that the effects were most significant if the microdosing regimen included days off between doses. It was thought that the body becomes accustomed to regular, daily use, with this ‘tolerance’ driving a reduction in perceived benefits. The ‘optimal’ regimen was anticipated to be one dose every 3 days.

However, the actual research could not confirm either of these hypotheses. No clear distinction was apparent regardless of how long someone had been microdosing for, or the frequency with which they were dosing. As a result, the ‘optimal’ dosing regimen remains something of a mystery. More research will need to be conducted to further consider these questions.

Conclusion: The Benefits of Microdosing Psychedelics

This study, due to its limited sample and relative inability to build a causal relationship without bias, is just a first step. Future studies with different design and greater and more diverse sample will be needed to ‘prove’ these results. But as far as hypotheses go, the study does show that initial thinking and expectations around the impact of microdosing on the consumer were supported. Much work remains, but thus far, assumptions have been validated.

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About the Author

Passionate about studying the psychedelic/mystical experience from a neuropsychological lens, Emily is a member of MAPS Canada Research Committee and graduated with an Honours BSc in Cognitive Neuropsychology from York University.  She currently leads a team of RAS with a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigating microdosing psilocybin for persistent depressive disorder.

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