Microdosing Psychedelics

Does it do anything?

Psychedelic drugs have been capturing the attention of doctors and patients alike, for their increasingly demonstrated potential to effect long-lasting improvements in the mental health of people who are suffering from conditions such as treatment-resistant depression, addiction, OCD, or end of life anxiety. Microdosing of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin involves taking a fraction of a regular dose that is much lower than one would take if one wanted to "trip" or hallucinate on these substances. A microdose is usually intended to be a subperceptual dose, so there are no visual distortions or mystical experiences. People commonly microdose psychedelics daily, or several times a week, without any major interruption to their daily schedules.

It is widely believed among psychedelic afficionados that microdosing with psychedelics enhances one's mood, creativity, concentration, productivity, and ability to empathize with others. This is a huge deal, if true.

Microdosing has gone mainstream with articles in the Wall Street Journal about how fun and successful people are who microdose. Personally, I tried microdosing of shrooms, at a variety of doses, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, feel any difference in my mood, affect, creativity, or anything else. I might just as well have been taking a sugar pill.

Is there any scientific evidence for the benefits that many thousands of people claim from microdosing? Or, can the perceived benefits be explained as an "expectancy effect"? This means that people who take a daily pill that they fervently expect will help them feel happier and smarter will feel that they are happier and smarter — just from taking the pill, regardless of what's in it, via the placebo effect (which can be extremely powerful).

What is microdosing?

There isn't a single, clearly recognized definition of microdosing for any psychedelic drug, and this has complicated attempts to perform research. One definition is that a microdose is approximately 1/5 to 1/20 of a recreational dose. From anecdotal experience this is accurate, as a medium-strength dose of psilocybin is 2 to 3 grams of dried mushrooms, and a microdose is typically around 0.1 to 0.3 grams. One obstacle to microdosing is that the potency of mushrooms can vary greatly, as they are not regulated outside of clinical trials, and they are often bought on the illicit market, so this isn't an exact science. Likewise, LSD can be difficult to microdose as it is an invisible, tasteless, odorless substance that usually comes embedded into a piece of paper to be slipped under the tongue, though sometimes it is found in liquid form which might make it easier to accurately titrate.