The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Powerful substances in tiny amounts: An interview study of psychedelic microdosing
Open accessAbstract
AIMS: This article presents a qualitative interview study of people who microdose with psychedelic drugs, which means that the user takes about one tenth of an ordinary recreational dose. DESIGN: = 21) were recruited at several Internet fora for individual interviews via private messaging. Every participant was male, and the median respondent was in his 30s with a stable job and relationship and extensive entheogen experience. RESULTS: Respondents tended to experiment with microdosing in phases, reporting mostly positive consequences from this form of drug use. Reported effects included improved mood, cognition, and creativity, which often served to counteract symptoms especially from conditions of anxiety and depression. There were also reports of various challenges with psychedelic microdosing, and some did not find the practice worth continuing. CONCLUSION: The study obtained evidence of a group of users taking small doses of psychedelics not for the purpose of intoxication but to enhance everyday functioning. While the study's findings are not generalisable, they may inform subsequent investigations with research questions and hypotheses.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
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?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Agreeableness and openness to experience did not change at all after MD compared to baseline in the current study, contrasting results from earlier MD studies (12, 28).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [28]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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 [246]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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 [246]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Also, a qualitative interview study reported that participants experienced increases in openness and extraversion following MD, although no explicit mention of other personality traits was made (28).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [28]
In the citing paper
“Other qualitative research indicates that regular use of psychedelics in low doses for prolonged periods (i.e., “microdosing”) may have an impact on productivity and other leadership-related outcomes (Webb et al., 2019; see also Johnstad, 2018; Fadiman and Korb, 2019; Hutten et al., 2019).”
From Altered states of leadership: mindfulness meditation, psychedelic use, and leadership development (2023) · cites this paper as Johnstad, 2018
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
InterViews : learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing
Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015) · VBN Forskningsportal (Aalborg Universitet) · Cited by 2,605
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 · cited 2×
“…indicated therapeutic effects from full doses of psychedelic drugs on depression and anxiety around life-threatening disease (Gasser et al., 2013; Griffiths et al., 2016; Grob et al., 2011; Ross et al., 2016), on substance dependence (Bogenschutz et al., 2015; Johnson, Garcia-Romeu, Cosimano, &…”
BackgroundResultRoss, 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
Can You See the Real Me? Activation and Expression of the “True Self” on the Internet
Bargh, J. A., McKenna, K. Y. A., & Fitzsimons, G. M. (2002) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/1540-4560.00247 · Cited by 1,301
Nichols, D. E. (2004) · Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2003.11.002 · Cited by 1,211
Pilot Study of Psilocybin Treatment for Anxiety in Patients With Advanced-Stage Cancer
Grob, C. S., Danforth, A. L., Chopra, G. S., Hagerty, M., McKay, C. R., Halberstadt, A. L., & Greer, G. R. (2011) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.116 · Cited by 1,206
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 · cited 5×
“…around life-threatening disease (Gasser et al., 2013; Griffiths et al., 2016; Grob et al., 2011; Ross et al., 2016), on substance dependence (Bogenschutz et al., 2015; Johnson, Garcia-Romeu, Cosimano, & Griffiths, 2014; Schenberg, de Castro Comis, Chaves, & da Silveira, 2014; Thomas, Lucas,…”
BackgroundInfluentialPilot 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 · cited 1×
“…for conditions such as substance dependence, OCD, and PTSD also have parallels in research on therapeutic effects from psychedelics in full doses (Abramson, 1967; Bogenschutz et al., 2015; Johnson et al., 2014; Krebs & Johansen, 2012; Nichols, 2004; Schenberg et al., 2014; Thomas et al., 2013).”
BackgroundE‐mail interviewing in qualitative research: A methodological discussion
Meho, L. I. (2006) · Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.20416 · Cited by 751
Gasser, P., Holstein, D., Michel, Y., Doblin, R., Yazar-Klosinski, B., Passie, T., & Brenneisen, R. (2014) · Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000113 · Cited by 750
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Rätsch C., 2005, The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants
- Tollersrud E, 2017, Morgenbladet
- Waldman A., 2017, A really good day: How microdosing made a mega difference in my mood, my marriage, and my life
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics
Polito, V., & Stevenson, R. J. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0211023 · Cited by 235
Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Neuroplastic, Immunomodulatory, and Neurotransmitter Mechanisms
Inserra, A., De Gregorio, D., & Gobbi, G. (2021) · Pharmacological Reviews · doi:10.1124/pharmrev.120.000056 · Cited by 232
Kuypers, K. P. C., Ng, L., Erritzøe, D., Knudsen, G. M., Nichols, C. D., Nichols, D. E., Pani, L., Soula, A., & Nutt, D. (2019) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881119857204 · Cited by 227
“In addition, Johnstad emphasizes that ‘to microdose with a psychedelic drug means to take a dose small enough to provide no intoxication or significant alteration of consciousness’ (Johnstad, 2018).”
BackgroundInfluentialGarcia‐Romeu, A., & Richards, W. A. (2018) · International Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/09540261.2018.1486289 · Cited by 210
“…will be needed, as will studies exploring hallucinogen-assisted treatments for novel indications, and developing new models of psychedelic-assisted therapy such as microdosing (Fadiman, 2011; Johnstad, 2018; Waldman, 2018), or psychedelic-assisted group therapy (Passie, 2012; Preller et al., 2016).”
BackgroundAlmeida, 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
“…studies have suggested that regular intake of micro-doses of psychedelics leads to benefits in mood, health and cognition, decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety, with no reports of significant alteration of consciousness (Johnstad, 2018; Anderson et al., 2019; Polito and Stevenson, 2019).”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Johnstad, P. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Bergen (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Johnstad, Petter Grahl
- Venue
- Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-02
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 39-51
- ISSN
- 1455-0725 (ISSN-L)
- 1458-6126
- PMC
- PMC7434115
- OpenAlex
- W2789213216
- Cited by
- 155
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 24.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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, psychedelics, entheogens, recreational drug use, mood improvement, cognitive enhancement, creativity, anxiety, depression, user experience
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
