Microdosing Research

This re-analysis of an RCT (n=80) finds no effect of LSD microdosing (10µg, x14) on creativity in healthy adult males. Participants received either LSD or placebo every third day for six weeks, with creativity assessed using multiple tests at baseline, during acute dosing, and after the six-week regimen.

This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study (n=39) examines the effects of a single low dose of LSD (26µg) on event-related potentials during an emotional face oddball task. It finds that LSD significantly reduced the amplitude of N170 ERP to neutral faces and P300 ERP to neutral and happy faces, suggesting differential effects on brain responses to social and emotional information.

This placebo-controlled study (n=53) investigates the effects of repeated low doses of LSD (15μg; 4x) on arousal, attention, and memory. LSD produces stimulatory effects, reducing EEG delta, theta, and alpha power, and enhancing pre-attentive processing, with the strongest effects in individuals with low baseline arousal. Inhibitory effects were observed in high-memory performers. The effects persisted during a 1-week follow-up, suggesting sustained neuroadaptations.

This pre-print (n=13) investigates the subjective experiences of individuals engaging in psilocybin microdosing in their daily lives. Combining momentary ecological assessments and retrospective interviews, participants reported varied effects, including loosening of mental structures, increased salience of external stimuli, flexible cognition, and ego-dystonic contents.

This prospective survey (n=233, 64, 44) explores microdosing’s (MD) impact on emotional regulation (ER) and empathy in adults with severe ADHD symptoms. Positive effects on ER and empathy were observed, specifically in cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, perspective-taking, and personal distress. However, a comparison with those using only conventional medications (n=180, 50, 38 MD; n=37, 27, 28 conventional) revealed that after four weeks, only expressive suppression improvement persisted, and cognitive reappraisal and empathy enhancements disappeared.

This re-analysis (n=73) investigates the effects of low doses of LSD (13-26µg; n=21), THC (7.5-15mg), and methamphetamine (MA; 10-20mg) on neural complexity in healthy volunteers without inducing altered states of consciousness. Utilizing a within-subjects design over three laboratory visits, the study records resting state EEG data to measure Lempel-Ziv complexity and spectral power. Results demonstrate that only LSD, not THC or MA, dose-dependently increases neural complexity and reduces delta and theta power, while THC and MA respectively decrease and increase alpha power, primarily in frontal regions.

This systematic review (s=14) compiles double-blind, placebo-controlled studies on microdosing LSD (5-20μg) under laboratory conditions. It reports that acute low doses of LSD affect blood pressure, sleep, neural connectivity, mood, social cognition, and perceptions of pain and time, with noticeable effects at 10-20 μg but not at 5μg. While no serious adverse effects were noted, repeated microdosing did not significantly change mood or cognition.

This review (2023) assesses the potential long-term impact of microdosing psychedelics on cardiac health, particularly focusing on LSD and psilocybin. Despite the increasing popularity of microdosing, concerns arise due to structural similarities between these substances and medications associated with cardiac fibrosis and valvulopathy. The review emphasizes the need for future studies to evaluate the safety of prolonged microdosing and discusses the relationship between drug-induced cardiac fibrosis and the 5-HT2B receptor.

This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial (n=39) finds a low dose of LSD (26μg) to produce greater positive mood, stimulant-like, and psychedelic effects in people with mild depression (BDI-II≥17) compared to non-depressed controls. Self-rated depression scores decreased more 48 hours after LSD for the mildly depressed group. Both groups showed expected physiological and subjective drug effects. This suggests low-dose LSD may have therapeutic potential for depression.

This observational study (n=233) investigates the impact of four weeks of microdosing (MD) on mindfulness and personality traits in adults with ADHD. Findings indicate increased mindfulness and decreased neuroticism post-MD, with no significant changes in other personality traits. The use of conventional ADHD medication or the presence of comorbidities didn’t affect the outcomes, suggesting MD may alter stable traits independently of these factors.