The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 33 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Psychedelic Microdosing: A Subreddit Analysis
Abstract
Self-administration of very low doses of psychedelic drugs to improve mental health and wellbeing and enhance cognitive function, known as microdosing, has received recent media attention, but little research has been conducted. We conducted a content analysis of discussions about microdosing from the online forum Reddit. We examined motivations, dosing practices, and perceived benefits and limitations of microdosing. Motivations included self-management of mental health issues, improvement of psychosocial wellbeing, and cognitive enhancement. Self-reported benefits included cognitive and creative enhancement, reduced depression and anxiety, enhanced self-insight and mindfulness, improved mood and attitude toward life, improved habits and health behaviors, and improved social interactions and interpersonal connections. Perceived limitations included issues related to dosing, adverse physical effects, taking illegal substances, limited or no mental health or cognitive improvement, increased anxiety, unpleasant "off" days, only short-term benefits, and concerns about dependence and drug-related risks. Standard doses of psychedelic drugs provided in therapeutic settings have potential as novel treatments for some mental health conditions, but clinical research is needed to understand if this is also the case for microdosing. In the meantime, harm reduction resources should be developed and made available to provide the best available information on the safer use of self-administered psychedelics.
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“This reduction of top-down control facilitates increased levels of creativity through divergent thinking (Preller and V ollenweider 2018; Abraham et al. 2012), leading to novel problem-solving solutions and contributing to the recent rise in microdosing protocols among high-performing creative professionals (Lea et al. 2019; Polito and Stevenson 2019).”
From Cultural Evolution of Religion, Spirituality and Ritual: Impacts On Human Cooperation (2024) · cites this paper as Lea et al. 2019
In the citing paper
“Survey research has shown that some adults diagnosed with ADHD report using low, sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelic substances repeatedly, referred to as microdosing (MD), to self-treat their symptoms and as such to improve daily life functioning (4–7).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [6]
In the citing paper
“Interestingly, enhanced levels of mindfulness have been reported after MD (6)”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [6]
In the citing paper
“The finding that mindfulness was enhanced in MD individuals is in line with previous studies reporting this association (6, 11), but in contrast to one previous prospective MD study that did not find any changes in mindfulness after 6 weeks of MD (13).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [6]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Lea, T., Amada, N., & Jungaberle, H.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
- MIND European Foundation for Psychedelic Science, Berlin, Germany
- Corresponding author
- Lea, Toby
- Venue
- Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-10-24
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 101-112
- ISSN
- 0279-1072 (ISSN-L)
- 2159-9777
- OpenAlex
- W2981686921
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 11.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (NA)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis
- Keywords
- psychedelic microdosing, Reddit discussions, online forums, mental health self-management, cognitive enhancement, psychosocial well-being, anxiety and depression, harm reduction, drug addiction
- MeSH terms
- Self-Management, Psychosocial Functioning, Adult, Behavioral Symptoms, Cognition, Hallucinogens, Humans, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, Psilocybin, Self Administration, Qualitative Research, Social Media
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