Investigación sobre microdosificación

This preprint meta-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).

This interview study (n=30) reviewed the experiences of subjects who have used psychedelics (e.g. LSD, psilocybin) in small quantities (microdosing) to understand their reasons and how they perceived themselves in their conventional lives in the context of their narrative identity. The study opined that the acute use of such psychedelics in small quantities allowed the subjects to rationalize their reasons due to their procurement and administration practices as well as health reasons. This helped them normalize their drug use, facilitated persistence and saw themselves as conventional citizens with middle-class values. This reasoning ultimately allows them to distance themselves from those who “abuse” psychedelics.

This survey (n=909) of psychedelic microdosers found that they were more likely than the general public to have used substances recreationally and were less likely to suffer from substance use disorder (SUD) or anxiety disorder. Most microdosed with either LSD (13μg) or psilocybin (0.3g mushroom).

This diary study (n>100) investigates the “safe and beneficial” use of psychedelic microdosing (e.g. 10μg LSD) to improve positive moods by evaluating positive and negative emotional states using the PANAS checklist and written reports. The study showed that microdosers perceived improved health habits, increased energy, and improved work effectiveness. Furthermore, smaller samples demonstrated alleviation of symptoms in migraine headaches, traumatic brain injury, pre-menstrual syndromes (PMS), shingles, and other such conditions that have not been previously associated with psychedelic use.

This double-blind study (n=22) investigated the effects of microdosing LSD (13μg & 26μg) on resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP) in healthy adults. The study found that microdoses of LSD produced desynchronization patterns similar to those reported with higher doses of psychedelics, leading the authors to believe that microdoses of LSD may produce therapeutic effects in the absence of a full psychedelic experience.

This double-blind placebo-controlled preprint study (n=34) assessed the effects of microdosing psilocybin (0.5g dried mushrooms, about 0.9mg psilocybin) on subjective experience, behaviour, creativity, perception, cognition, and brain activity. Participants received two doses (psilocybin/placebo) administered separately, one week apart. Subjective effects were more intense for the active dose, while null effects or a trend towards cognitive impairment were observed. Expectation effects may be, in part, responsible for the anecdotal benefits of microdosing.

This double-blind placebo-controlled microdosing study (n=75) showed that psilocybin microdoses (0.7g dried truffles, 15mg psilocybin, about 1/10th a high dose) didn’t alter self-awareness or modulate emotion processing. The confirmatory analysis also found no effects, but an exploratory analysis showed some reduction of depression and stress in only the first block.

This double-blind placebo-controlled microdosing study (n=56) explored the effects of four repeated doses of LSD (13 or 26μg) on measures of mood and cognition. LSD administration sessions were separated by 3-4 days. LSD (26μg) produced modest subjective effects but did not improve mood or affect performance. While LSD was safely administered, low doses of LSD produced negligible changes in mood or cognition in healthy volunteers.

This survey study (n=118) analysed qualitative reports regarding microdosing. Data from participants suggested four main emergent themes: reasons for microdosing, the practice of microdosing itself, outcomes linked to microdosing, and meta-commentary about microdosing.

This double-blind placebo-controlled trial (n=34) assessed natural language as a resource to identify speech produced under the acute effects of psilocybin microdoses (0.5g dried mushroom), focusing on variables known to be affected by higher doses: verbosity, semantic variability and sentiment score. Verbosity and sentiment scores significantly differed between groups suggesting that microdosing can be identified from natural speech.