What is microdosing and does it work?


Much of the early research on microdosing was enthusiastic. survey responses from users who experience increased attention and cognition, feelings of well-being, and relief from anxiety and depression. Laboratory studies of psilocybin and LSD microdoses tend to support these claims, and mood, attention and creativity. However, these studies were generally small and did not compare a microdose with a placebo.

D., clinical director of the Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. “You’re probably only going to give a try at this point in microdosing if you really have a strong belief that it can help you,” said David Erritzoe. And when people expect to benefit from a drug, they usually do.

The two largest placebo-controlled microdose trials were published last year, and both suggest that the benefits people experience are from the placebo effect. In studies, volunteers used their own medication to participate and received either unknown, active doses or a placebo packaged in the same capsules. After a few weeks, almost everyone’s mood and well-being had improved, no matter what they had taken.

“I was initially surprised but also a little disappointed with the results because when we set up the study we were quite optimistic that the microdose could have an effect beyond a placebo,” said Michiel van Elk, assistant professor of cognitive psychology at Leiden University. governing in the Netherlands one of the trials.

Dr. Erritzoe, running other workfound that the effectiveness of the drug depends on users’ expectations. They felt better when they took a placebo and thought it was a microdose, and if they had an active dose but incorrectly guessed it was a placebo, they didn’t.

a third placebo-controlled trialPublished earlier this month from the University of Chicago, it attempted to exceed user expectations by giving participants four microdoses of LSD over two weeks, but without telling them the purpose of the study or even what they were taking. Once again, there was no difference between the LSD and placebo groups.

Still, some scientists point to evidence that microdosing has a direct effect on the brain to claim its benefits are real. Researchers using neuroimaging technology, brain activity and connection After single small doses of LSD similar to that seen with larger amounts of the drug. and one study In Denmark, a microdose of psilocybin found that it activates about half of the specific types of serotonin receptors that psychedelics act on to produce their hallucinogenic effects.



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