A large study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports shows that microdosingpsilocybin resulted in greater improvements in mental health and mood than in individuals who did not engage in microdosing.
Study co-author Joseph Rootman, a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, said the study was “the largest longitudinal study to date” of psilocybin microdosing and one of the few pieces of research that include a control group.
“We found that microdosing psilocybin is associated with improvements in mood and mental health, which adds to the growing body of research suggesting positive benefits of microdosing specifically in the areas of mental health and -cognition.”— Joseph Rootman, co-author of the study
“We hope that our findings will help facilitate the development of more rigorously designed clinical trials,” he added.
Naturally occurring psychedelic substances such as psilocybin extract from the magic mushroom and mescaline have been used for their beneficial health effects for thousands of years. The classification of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin and LSD as drugs of abuse with no medical use, however, has hindered research into the therapeutic effects of these substances.
In recent years, there has been a revival of scientific and popular interest in the potential use of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. For example, psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, has shown promise in treating individuals with depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders.
These studies generally used regular doses of psilocybin that produce euphoric and hallucinogenic effects. However, the use of regular doses of psilocybin can also produce unpleasant and frightening experiences, also called “bad trips”.
This led to the adoption of a practice called microdosing, which involves the consumption of small amounts of psychedelic substances that do not produce hallucinogenic effects.
Most of the ‘microdosers’ use about 10% of the regular dose of psilocybin, equivalent to about 100-300 milligrams of dried mushrooms, between 2-5 times a week.
Anecdotal reports and observational studies suggest that microdosing psychedelics can improve cognitive function, improve mood, and reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms. Most of these observational studies used a cross-sectional design, with only a few longitudinal studies comparing the effects of microdosing psilocybin with a control group over a period of time.
However, there are obstacles to conducting longitudinal studies on the effects of hallucinogenic substances.
For example, a significant number of participants in previous placebo-controlled microdose studies were able to recognize the effects of psilocybin during the study. In other words, the participants were aware of the treatment, that is, not blinded, which introduces the possibility of bias.
In addition, studies suggest that individuals tend to have strong expectations of positive effects due to the use of psilocybin and this can result in placebo effects.
To further characterize the potential health benefits of microdosing, the authors of the present study used a naturalistic design by following the changes in mental health and mood of individuals who were already taking microdoses.
Specifically, the researchers compared changes in mood, mental health and cognitive function of microdosers over a period of one month with individuals who were not taking microdoses.
Microdosers who use psilocybin often combine it with other substances such as the mushroom lion’s mane which can also have therapeutic effects. For example, there is some evidence to suggest that lion’s mane mushrooms can alleviate symptoms of depression and mild cognitive impairment.
Microdosers combining psilocybin and lion’s mane are also known to incorporate vitamin B3, also known as niacin. Niacin is thought to improve the absorption of psilocybin and lion’s mane and can potentially enhance the effects of this mushroom.
To better characterize the impact of these combinations on well-being, the researchers also included participants who were microdosing psilocybin together with lion’s mane and niacin.
The present study consisted of 953 microdosers using psilocybin and 180 individuals who were not taking microdosers. Participants completed a series of questionnaires and tasks on their mobile devices at the start of the study and at one month after recruitment.
These assessments included self-report questionnaires to assess mood and symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. The researchers also assessed cognitive function and psychomotor ability, which refers to physical movements that require cognitive processing.
The researchers found that microdosers showed a greater improvement in mood and a greater reduction in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress during the study period than non-microdosers.
These positive effects of microdosing were observed in all participants, regardless of whether they used psilocybin alone or a combination of either psilocybin with lion’s mane, or psilocybin, lion’s mane, and niacin.
Additionally, microdosing psilocybin resulted in similar levels of improvement in mental health and mood across age groups, genders, and among individuals who did or did not have mental health concerns.
The only exception was female microdosers who showed a greater reduction in depressive symptoms than males.
The researchers also found that older microdosers showed greater improvement in psychomotor test, but not cognitive function, than non-microdosers. This effect was largely due to older participants over the age of 55 who used a combination of psilocybin, lion’s mane, and niacin.
In summary, the results of this study add to the current evidence on the beneficial effects of microdosing psilocybin on mental health and mood, including among individuals with mental health concerns.
Although the study had a large sample size, the number of individuals in various subgroups according to age, sex, and substances used for microdosing was relatively small. Therefore, these findings need to be replicated with larger sample sizes.
Dr. Balázs Szigeti, a post-doctoral researcher at Imperial College London, also noted that the present study used a control group but placebo effects in the microdosing group cannot be excluded.
“This study used a natural history control condition, which means that the control group had no treatment. This is a weak control condition, although it is certainly better than having no control group at all. as in purely observational studies.”
“Relative to this weak control, the microdosers showed some improvement, mostly with moderate effect sizes. This means that in most scales the magnitude of improvement was only modest. Therefore, this study helps to establish that in uncontrolled/weakly controlled studies microdosing shows some benefits,” he continued.
“The main weakness of the study is the lack of placebo control. Therefore, it is not clear whether the source of this improvement is the positive expectation or the pharmacological action of microdosing,” he pointed out.
“So far, only a few placebo-controlled studies have been conducted on microdosing with mixed results. Due to the lack of scientific consensus and the great public interest, I expect this field of research to grow in the coming years which hopefully can clarify this question.”— Dr. Balázs Szigeti
