Perceived outcomes of psychedelic microdosing as self-managed therapies for mental and substance use disorders
This survey (n=1102) study found positive effects after microdosing psychedelics (44% reported 'much better' mental health), but was limited to self-reports.
Abstract
Rationale
The regular consumption of very small doses of psychedelic drugs (known as microdosing) has been a source of growing media and community attention in recent years. However, there is currently limited clinical and social research evidence on the potential role of microdosing as therapies for mental and substance use disorders.
Objectives
This paper examined subjective experiences of microdosing psychedelics to improve mental health or to cease or reduce substance use, and examined sociodemographic and other covariates of perceived improvements in mental health that individuals attributed to microdosing.
Methods
An international online survey was conducted in 2018 and examined people’s experiences of using psychedelics for self-reported therapeutic or enhancement purposes. This paper focuses on 1102 respondents who reported current or past experience of psychedelic microdosing.
Results
Twenty-one percent of respondents reported primarily microdosing as a therapy for depression, 7% for anxiety, 9% for other mental disorders and 2% for substance use cessation or reduction. Forty-four percent of respondents perceived that their mental health was “much better” as a consequence of microdosing. In a multivariate analysis, perceived improvements in mental health from microdosing were associated with a range of variables including gender, education, microdosing duration and motivations, and recent use of larger psychedelic doses.
Conclusions
Given the promising findings of clinical trials of standard psychedelic doses as mental health therapies, clinical microdosing research is needed to determine its potential role in psychiatric treatment, and ongoing social research to better understand the use of microdosing as self-managed mental health and substance use therapies.
Research Summary of 'Perceived outcomes of psychedelic microdosing as self-managed therapies for mental and substance use disorders'
Introduction
Over the past decade there has been renewed interest in psychedelic drugs as potential therapies for mental and substance use disorders, with recent clinical trials investigating medium-to-high doses of psilocybin, ayahuasca, LSD and MDMA for conditions such as treatment-resistant depression, alcohol and nicotine dependence, end-of-life anxiety and PTSD. Concurrently, microdosing—regular ingestion of low to very low doses of psychedelics (commonly described as around 5–10% of a standard dose) on a scheduled basis—has attracted media and community attention as a self-managed practice for mood, cognition and wellbeing. Contemporary empirical research on microdosing is limited: early laboratory and naturalistic studies have reported mixed findings on time perception, vigour and problem solving, and a small body of observational and qualitative work has documented self-reported mood and cognitive benefits alongside some unwanted effects and notable methodological limitations (e.g., non-blinded designs, exclusion of people with mental illness).
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Topics
- Author
- APA Citation
Lea, T., Amada, N., Jungaberle, H., Schecke, H., Scherbaum, N., & Klein, M. (2020). Perceived outcomes of psychedelic microdosing as self-managed therapies for mental and substance use disorders. Psychopharmacology, 237(5), 1521-1532. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-020-05477-0
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