Recent Study: Microdoses of psychedelic mushrooms have been shown to improve mood and mental health.

Microdosing is the practice of using small amounts of psychedelic substances on a regular basis that do not impair cognitive function.
Microdosing psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, appears to improve cognitive function and alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to evidence from mostly small observational studies.
A large study now shows that individuals who microdosed psilocybin had improved mood and a greater decrease in anxiety, depression, and stress over a one-month period than those who did not.
Notably, the improvements in mental health and mood associated with psilocybin microdosing were also observed in people with mental health issues.

“We found psilocybin microdosing to be associated with improvements in mood and mental health, which adds to the growing body of research that suggests positive benefits of microdosing specifically in the domains of mental health and cognition.”
— Joseph Rootman, study co-author

“We hope that our findings will help facilitate the development of more rigorously designed clinical trials,” Rootman added.

What exactly is microdosing?

For thousands of years, naturally occurring psychedelic substances such as psilocybin extract from magic mushrooms and mescaline have been used for their beneficial health effects. However, the classification of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin and LSD as drugs of abuse with no medical use has hampered research into their therapeutic effects.

There has been a resurgence of scientific and popular interest in the potential use of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder in recent years. For example, psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, has shown promise in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders.

Regular doses of psilocybin, which produces euphoric and hallucinogenic effects, were used in these studies. Regular psilocybin use, on the other hand, can result in unpleasant and terrifying experiences known as "bad trips."

This has resulted in the practice of microdosing, which involves consuming small amounts of psychedelic substances that do not produce hallucinogenic effects.

Most 'microdosers' take about 10% of the regular psilocybin dose, which is equivalent to 100-300 milligrams of dried mushrooms, 2-5 times per week.

The Difficulties of Studying Psychedelics

According to anecdotal reports and observational studies, microdosing psychedelics can improve cognitive function, mood, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. The majority of these observational studies used a cross-sectional design, with only a few longitudinal studies comparing the effects of psilocybin microdosing with a control group over time.

However, conducting longitudinal studies on the effects of hallucinogenic substances is difficult.

For example, in previous placebo-controlled microdosing studies, a significant number of participants were able to recognize the effects of psilocybin during the study. In other words, participants were not blinded to the treatment, introducing the possibility of bias.

Furthermore, studies Trusted Sourcesindicate that people have strong expectations of positive effects from psilocybin use, which can result in placebo effects.

The authors of the current study used a naturalistic design to further characterize the potential health benefits of microdosing by tracking changes in the mental health and mood of individuals who were already microdosing.

The researchers specifically compared changes in mood, mental health, and cognitive function of microdosers to those who were not microdosing over a one-month period.

Psilocybin microdosers frequently combine it with other substances, such as the mushroom lion's mane, which may also have therapeutic effects. For example, there is some evidence that lion's mane mushrooms may help with symptoms. Known source for depression and mild cognitive impairment.

Microdosers that combine psilocybin and lion's mane have also been found to contain vitamin B3, also known as niacin. Niacin is thought to improve the absorption of psilocybin and lion's mane, potentially enhancing their effects.

The researchers also included participants who were microdosing psilocybin along with lion's mane and niacin to better characterize the impact of these combinations on well-being.

This has resulted in the practice of microdosing, which involves consuming small amounts of psychedelic substances that do not produce hallucinogenic effects.

Most 'microdosers' take about 10% of the regular psilocybin dose, which is equivalent to 100-300 milligrams of dried mushrooms, 2-5 times per week.

The Difficulties of Studying Psychedelics

The effects of psilocybin microdosing

The current study included 953 psilocybin microdosers and 180 individuals who were not microdosing. At the start of the study and one month later, the participants completed a series of questionnaires and tasks on their mobile devices.

Self-report questionnaires were used to assess mood and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. The researchers also evaluated cognitive function and psychomotor ability, which are physical movements that necessitate cognitive processing.

The researchers discovered that microdosers experienced greater mood improvements and smaller reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress during the study period than non-microdosers.

All participants experienced positive effects from microdosing, whether they used psilocybin alone or a combination of psilocybin and lion's mane, or psilocybin, lion's mane, and niacin.

Furthermore, microdosing psilocybin resulted in similar levels of mental health and mood improvement across age groups, genders, and individuals with or without mental health concerns.

Female microdosers, on the other hand, showed greater reductions in depressive symptoms than males.

The researchers also discovered that older microdosers improved more in the psychomotor test but not in cognitive function than non-microdosers. This effect was primarily attributed to older participants over the age of 55 who used a combination of psilocybin, lion's mane, and niacin.

To summarize, the findings of this study add to the growing body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of microdosing psilocybin on mental health and mood, including in people with mental health issues.

More research is needed to determine the full benefits of microdosing.

Despite the study's large sample size, the number of people divided into age, gender, and substance used for microdosing was relatively small. As a result, these findings must be replicated with larger sample sizes.

Dr. Balázs Szigeti, a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London, also noted that while the current study did not include a control group, placebo effects in the microdosing group cannot be ruled out.

Dr. Szigeti elaborated:

“This study used a natural history control condition, meaning that the control group did not have any treatment. This is a weak control condition, although certainly better than not having any control group as in purely observational studies.”

“Relative to this weak control, microdosers showed some improvements, mostly with moderate effect sizes. This means that on most scales the magnitude of the improvements was only modest. Therefore, this study helps to establish that in uncontrolled / weakly controlled studies microdosing shows some benefits,” Dr. Szigeti continued.

“The major weakness of the study is the lack of placebo control. Therefore, it is unclear whether the source of these improvements is positive expectancy or the pharmacological action of microdosing,” said Dr. Szigeti.

“So far, only a few placebo-controlled studies have been conducted on microdosing with mixed results. Due to the lack of a scientific consensus and the great public interest, I expect this area of research to grow in the coming years that can hopefully clarify this question.”
— Dr. Balázs Szigeti