Placebo for Creativity

1 paper and 4 clinical trials exploring placebo as a treatment for creativity.

CompoundComparator / Control

Placebo

Placebo is the most widely referenced comparator in psychedelic clinical research, appearing in over 500 trials. Understanding how placebos are designed, administered, and interpreted is essential to evaluating the evidence base for psychedelic-assisted therapies — and one of the field’s most contested methodological challenges.

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Indication300 million adults struggling with creative blocks globally.

Creativity

Psychedelics have emerged as potential enhancers of creativity, influencing both divergent and convergent thinking processes. Current research indicates their capacity to disrupt cognitive rigidity and promote innovative thought patterns, warranting further exploration into their therapeutic and recreational applications.

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Academic Research

1 paper

Open Accessindividual

Microdosing psychedelics and its effect on creativity: Lessons learned from three double-blind placebo controlled longitudinal trials

This combined analysis (n=175) of three double-blind placebo-controlled longitudinal experiments investigated the effects of microdosing psilocybin (0.74 -; 1.71mg) on creativity and found that it increased the originality of their ideas while generating novel applications for ordinary things (divergent thinking). However, it did not increase the number of novel ideas, or their ability to detect features that are common across multiple things (convergent thinking).

Published: November 2, 2025
Journal: Neuropsychopharmacology
Authors: Fejer, G., Fiacchino, D., Hommel, B., Marschall, J., Prochazkova, L., Rifkin, B. D., Schoen, N., van Elk, M.

Clinical Trials

4 trials

RecruitingPhase I/II

Effects of Psilocybin on Electrophysiology and the Dynamic Content of Thought

This double-blind, placebo-controlled, full cross-over trial (n=30) will study the effects of psilocybin (10mg/70kg) on brain activity and thought dynamics in healthy volunteers.

Started: March 3, 2022
Type: interventional
Blinding: quadruple
Randomized: Yes
Registry ID: NCT05301608

CompletedPhase NA

Naturalistic Study of Microdosing With Psilocybin (NATMICRO)

Placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized naturalistic microdosing study (n=34) testing two 0.5 g dried Psilocybe cubensis sessions versus matched placebo in healthy microdosing volunteers with EEG, cognitive, behavioural and self-report outcomes.

Started: January 20, 2021
Type: interventional
Blinding: double
Randomized: Yes
Registry ID: NCT05160220

CompletedPhase I

A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to study the effects of repeated microdoses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on creativity and brain activity in healthy adult males

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (n=80) will study the effects of repeated microdoses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on creativity and brain activity in healthy adult males. Participants will receive either 10 µg of LSD or a placebo, dissolved in water in 1 ml oral syringes, taken once every three days for a total of 14 doses over a 41-day regimen.

Started: November 19, 2019
Type: interventional
Blinding: double
Randomized: Yes
Registry ID: ACTRN12621000436875

Not yet recruiting

Psilocybin as a tool for enhancing cognitive flexibility

This interventional trial (n=60), conducted by the University Maastricht (UM), investigates the effects of psilocybin (12mg/70kg) on cognitive flexibility, specifically divergent thinking and goal-directed behaviour.

Started: May 1, 2017
Type: interventional
Blinding: double
Randomized: Yes
Registry ID: NL6007

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