Microdosing psychedelics: personality, mental health, and creativity differences in microdosers
This survey study (n=909, 65% of which microdosed) included the Unusual Uses Tasks as a proxy for divergent creativity. They found that people who microdosed psychedelics (mostly LSD (65%) and psilocybin (28%)) were more creative (p < 0.001, r = 0.15).
Authors
- Cory Ross Weissman
- Rotem Petranker
Published
Abstract
Rationale
Microdosing psychedelics-the regular consumption of small amounts of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin-is a growing trend in popular culture. Recent studies on full-dose psychedelic psychotherapy reveal promising benefits for mental well-being, especially for depression and end-of-life anxiety. While full-dose therapies include perception distorting properties, microdosing may provide complementary clinical benefits using lower-risk, non-hallucinogenic doses.
Objectives
This pre-registered study aimed to investigate whether microdosing psychedelics is related to differences in personality, mental health, and creativity.
Methods
In this observational study, respondents recruited from online forums self-reported their microdosing behaviors and completed questionnaires concerning dysfunctional attitudes, wisdom, negative emotionality, open-mindedness, and mood. Respondents also performed the Unusual Uses Task to assess their creativity.
Results
Current and former microdosers scored lower on measures of dysfunctional attitudes (p < 0.001, r = − 0.92) and negative emotionality (p = 0.009, r = − 0.85) and higher on wisdom (p < 0.001, r = 0.88), openmindedness (p = 0.027, r = 0.67), and creativity (p < 0.001, r = 0.15) when compared to non-microdosing controls.
Conclusions
These findings provide promising initial evidence that warrants controlled experimental research to directly test safety and clinical efficacy. As microdoses are easier to administer than full-doses, this new paradigm has the exciting potential to shape future psychedelic research.
Research Summary of 'Microdosing psychedelics: personality, mental health, and creativity differences in microdosers'
Introduction
Microdosing psychedelics refers to the regular ingestion of very low doses of substances such as LSD or psilocybin and has become increasingly visible in popular culture despite a paucity of scientific evidence. Anderson and colleagues note that anecdotal reports and media coverage claim benefits including improved mood, focus, creativity and reduced depression and anxiety. The authors situate microdosing against a backdrop of research on full-dose psychedelic therapies, which show therapeutic promise but also produce intense perceptual experiences and require clinical oversight; microdosing is proposed as a potentially lower-risk, more easily administered alternative, but minimal empirical data exist on typical practices, safety, or psychological correlates. This pre-registered observational study set out to describe current microdosing practices in online communities and to test whether self-reported microdosing experience is associated with differences in measured personality traits, mental health vulnerability, and creativity. Specifically, the investigators compared self-identified microdosers (current and former) to non-microdosing controls on dysfunctional attitudes, wisdom, negative emotionality, open-mindedness, mood, and performance on a creativity task, with several hypotheses specified in advance about the direction of group differences and about dose/usage relationships.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compounds
- Topics
- Authors
- APA Citation
Anderson, T., Petranker, R., Rosenbaum, D., Weissman, C. R., Dinh-Williams, L., Hui, K., Hapke, E., & Farb, N. A. S. (2019). Microdosing psychedelics: personality, mental health, and creativity differences in microdosers. Psychopharmacology, 236(2), 731-740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-5106-2
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