Psilocybin microdosers demonstrate greater observed improvements in mood and mental health at one month relative to non-microdosing controls

Introduction

The paper summarises renewed public and scientific interest in psilocybin, not only at full psychoactive doses but also at substantially lower ‘‘microdoses’’ that are intended not to disrupt normal functioning. Prior cross-sectional and a few prospective studies have reported that microdosing (commonly 0.1–0.3 g dried mushrooms, several times per week) is associated with self-reported improvements in mood, cognition and reductions in stress, depression and anxiety. However, existing longitudinal research is limited by small samples, inconsistent use of non-microdosing control groups, difficulties maintaining placebo/blind conditions, high rates of prior psychedelic experience among participants, and little investigation of combinations of microdosed psilocybin with other substances (so-called ‘‘stacking’’), such as lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus; HE) and niacin (vitamin B3; B3), which have been anecdotally combined with psilocybin in the community. K. and colleagues designed a large, naturalistic, prospective observational study to extend this literature. The study follows self-selected participants recruited via an iOS application, comparing individuals who microdose psilocybin-containing mushrooms against non-microdosing comparators over approximately 22–35 days. The authors aimed to examine changes in mood and mental health (including depression, anxiety and stress), and cognitive and psychomotor functioning, to investigate whether effects varied by age, gender or presence of mental health concerns, and to explore whether stacking psilocybin with HE and B3 was associated with different outcomes.