Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook
This survey study (n=278) aimed to develop a codebook of benefits and challenges associated with microdosing. The authors found, among other things, that many parallels exist between the effects reported as benefits and those reported as challenges.
Authors
- Cory Ross Weissman
- Rotem Petranker
Published
Abstract
Background
Microdosing psychedelics is the practice of consuming very low, sub-hallucinogenic doses of a psychedelic substance, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or psilocybin-containing mushrooms. According to media reports, microdosing has grown in popularity, yet the scientific literature contains minimal research on this practice. There has been limited reporting on adverse events associated with microdosing, and the experiences of microdosers in community samples have not been categorized.
Methods
In the present study, we develop a codebook of microdosing benefits and challenges (MDBC) based on the qualitative reports of a real-world sample of 278 microdosers.
Results
We describe novel findings, both in terms of beneficial outcomes, such as improved mood (26.6%) and focus (14.8%), and in terms of challenging outcomes, such as physiological discomfort (18.0%) and increased anxiety (6.7%). We also show parallels between benefits and drawbacks and discuss the implications of these results. We probe for substance-dependent differences, finding that psilocybin-only users report the benefits of microdosing were more important than other users report.
Conclusions
These mixed-methods results help summarize and frame the experiences reported by an active microdosing community as high-potential avenues for future scientific research. The MDBC taxonomy reported here informs future research, leveraging participant reports to distil the highest-potential intervention targets so research funding can be efficiently allocated. Microdosing research complements the full-dose literature as clinical treatments are developed and neuropharmacological mechanisms are sought. This framework aims to inform researchers and clinicians as experimental microdosing research begins in earnest in the years to come.
Research Summary of 'Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook'
Introduction
Microdosing refers to taking sub-hallucinogenic amounts of classic psychedelics such as LSD or psilocybin. Public interest in the practice has grown rapidly, with large online communities reporting subjective benefits, yet scientific investigation remains limited and largely exploratory. The authors note that outcomes observed in full-dose psychedelic research (for example, effects on depression, addiction, personality and mystical-type experiences) may not fully predict microdosing effects because microdoses are intended to avoid overt perceptual alteration; thus unanticipated, dose-specific benefits and challenges could occur. This study aims to generate a data-driven taxonomy of microdosing benefits and challenges (the MDBC taxonomy) by analysing open-ended reports from a community sample of recreational microdosers. Using an exploratory, grounded-theory approach, Anderson and colleagues seek to catalogue commonly reported outcomes and to highlight candidate targets for future experimental research, including whether outcomes vary by substance (LSD-only, psilocybin-only, or both).
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compounds
- Topics
- Authors
- APA Citation
Anderson, T., Petranker, R., Christopher, A., Rosenbaum, D., Weissman, C., Dinh-Williams, L., Hui, K., & Hapke, E. (2019). Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook. Harm Reduction Journal, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-019-0308-4
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