The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 40 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Microdosing psychedelics: personality, mental health, and creativity differences in microdosers
Open accessAbstract
Rationale Microdosing psychedelics-the regular consumption of small amounts of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin-is a growing trend in popular culture. Recent studies on full-dose psychedelic psychotherapy reveal promising benefits for mental well-being, especially for depression and end-of-life anxiety. While full-dose therapies include perception-distorting properties, microdosing mayprovide complementary clinical benefits using lower-risk, non-hallucinogenic doses.Objectives This pre-registered study aimed to investigate whether microdosing psychedelics is related to differences in personality, mental health, and creativity.Methods In this observational study, respondents recruited from online forums self-reported their microdosing behaviors and completed questionnaires concerning dysfunctional attitudes, wisdom, negative emotionality, open-mindedness, and mood. Respondents also performed the Unusual Uses Task to assess their creativity.Results Current and former microdosers scored lower on measures of dysfunctional attitudes (p < 0.001, r = - 0.92) and negative emotionality (p = 0.009, r = - 0.85) and higher on wisdom (p < 0.001, r = 0.88), openmindedness(p = 0.027, r = 0.67), and creativity (p < 0.001, r = 0.15) when compared to non-microdosing controls.Conclusions These findings provide promising initial evidence that warrants controlled experimental research to directly test safety and clinical efficacy. As microdoses are easier to administer than full-doses, this new paradigm has the exciting potential to shape future psychedelic research.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“the data on human psychedelic microdosing are equivocal”
From Psychedelics and Other Psychoplastogens for Treating Mental Illness. (2021) · cites this paper as [245]
In the citing paper
“therapeutic benefit of low doses of psychedelics remains to be demonstrated in a well-controlled clinical study”
From Psychedelics and Other Psychoplastogens for Treating Mental Illness. (2021) · cites this paper as [245]
In the citing paper
“Interestingly, openmindesness (i.e., openness) was higher and negative emotionality (i.e., neuroticism) was lower in current and former microdosers compared to MD-naïve controls (27).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [27]
Citations
Cites
The broaden–and–build theory of positive emotions
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1512 · Cited by 4,214
Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., Umbricht, A., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., Cosimano, M. P., & Klinedinst, M. A. (2016) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881116675513 · Cited by 2,201
Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2017) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000096 · Cited by 2,075
Public health significance of neuroticism
Lahey, B. B. (2009) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0015309 · Cited by 1,901 · cited 1×
“Tendencies to experience negative emotionality (e.g., anxiety, depression, and emotional volatility) are a robust predictor of mental and physical health problems (Lahey 2009) thus reduced vulnerability is reflected in the lower scores seen in microdosers.”
BackgroundRoss, S., Bossis, A., Guss, J., Agin-Liebes, G., Malone, T., Cohen, B., Mennenga, S. E., Belser, A., Kalliontzi, K., Babb, J., et al. (2016) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881116675512 · Cited by 1,698
Psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence: A proof-of-concept study
Bogenschutz, M. P., Forcehimes, A. A., Pommy, J. A., Wilcox, C. E., Barbosa, P., & Strassman, R. J. (2015) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881114565144 · Cited by 1,151
Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: immediate and persisting dose-related effects
Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2011) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-011-2358-5 · Cited by 932
Pilot study of the 5-HT 2A R agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction
Johnson, M. W., Garcia-Romeu, A., Cosimano, M. P., & Griffiths, R. R. (2014) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881114548296 · Cited by 914
Silvia, P. J., Winterstein, B. P., Willse, J. T., Barona, C. M., Cram, J. T., Hess, K. I., Martinez, J. L., & Richard, C. A. (2008) · Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts · doi:10.1037/1931-3896.2.2.68 · Cited by 912
MacLean, K. A., Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2011) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881111420188 · Cited by 895
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Fadiman J (2011) The psychedelic explorer’s guide. Park Street Press, Rochester
- Waldman A (2017) A really good day: how microdosing made a mega difference in my mood, my marriage, and my life, 1st edn. Knopf, New York
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The subjective effects of psychedelics may not be necessary for their enduring therapeutic effects
Olson, D. E. (2021) · ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science · doi:10.1021/acsptsci.0c00192 · Cited by 329
A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics
Polito, V., & Stevenson, R. J. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0211023 · Cited by 235
Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing
Szigeti, B., Kartner, L., Blemings, A., Rosas, F., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. J., Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Erritzoe, D. (2021) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.62878 · Cited by 192
Almeida, R. N. D., Galvão, A. C. D. M., da Silva, F. S., Silva, E. A. D. S., Palhano-Fontes, F., Maia-de-Oliveira, J. P., de Araújo, L.-S. B., Lobão-Soares, B., & Galvão-Coelho, N. L. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01234 · Cited by 177
Bershad, A. K., Schepers, S. T., Bremmer, M. P., Lee, R., & de Wit, H. (2019) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.05.019 · Cited by 179
Metadata
- Authors
- Anderson, T., Petranker, R., Rosenbaum, D., Weissman, C. R., Dinh-Williams, L.-A., Hui, K., Hapke, E., & Farb, N. A. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- York University (CA)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Anderson, Thomas
- Petranker, Rotem
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychopharmacology
- Published
- 2019-01-02
- Volume
- 236
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 731-740
- ISSN
- 0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-2072
- OpenAlex
- W2907379922
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 18
- FWCI
- 26.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- microdosing, psychedelics, LSD, psilocybin, personality, mental health, creativity, dysfunctional attitudes, negative affectivity, wisdom, open-mindedness, mood
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Creativity, Depression, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Emotions, Female, Hallucinogens, Humans, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, Male, Mental Health, Perception, Personality, Psilocybin, Surveys and Questionnaires
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
