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A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics
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Abstract
The phenomenon of 'microdosing', that is, regular ingestion of very small quantities of psychedelic substances, has seen a rapid explosion of popularity in recent years. Individuals who microdose report minimal acute effects from these substances yet claim a range of long-term general health and wellbeing benefits. There have been no published empirical studies of microdosing and the current legal and bureaucratic climate makes direct empirical investigation of the effects of psychedelics difficult. In Study One we conducted a systematic, observational investigation of individuals who microdose. We tracked the experiences of 98 microdosing participants, who provided daily ratings of psychological functioning over a six week period. 63 of these additionally completed a battery of psychometric measures tapping mood, attention, wellbeing, mystical experiences, personality, creativity, and sense of agency, at baseline and at completion of the study. Analyses of daily ratings revealed a general increase in reported psychological functioning across all measures on dosing days but limited evidence of residual effects on following days. Analyses of pre and post study measures revealed reductions in reported levels of depression and stress; lower levels of distractibility; increased absorption; and increased neuroticism. To better understand these findings, in Study Two we investigated pre-existing beliefs and expectations about the effects of microdosing in a sample of 263 naïve and experienced microdosers, so as to gauge expectancy bias. All participants believed that microdosing would have large and wide-ranging benefits in contrast to the limited outcomes reported by actual microdosers. Notably, the effects believed most likely to change were unrelated to the observed pattern of reported outcomes. The current results suggest that dose controlled empirical research on the impacts of microdosing on mental health and attentional capabilities are needed.
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“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 [249]
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“the data on human psychedelic microdosing are equivocal”
From Psychedelics and Other Psychoplastogens for Treating Mental Illness. (2021) · cites this paper as [249]
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“but other studies did not find this effect in a general population sample (12) and a general sample without individuals diagnosed with a mood, anxiety, substance use, psychotic or dissociative disorder (13).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
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“Though one prospective (survey) study investigating adults (excluding individuals with mood, anxiety, substance use, psychotic or dissociative disorders) did not find a change in mindfulness scores after MD (13)”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
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“though other studies investigating healthy individuals did not find this effect (13, 29).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
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“but was increased in a sample consisting of adults without mood, anxiety, substance use, and psychotic or dissociative disorders (13).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
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“The discrepancy between the findings by Polito and Stevenson (13) and the current study could potentially be explained by different sample characteristics as they excluded individuals with certain mental disorders, such as mood and anxiety disorders.”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [13]
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“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 [13]
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“Individuals who microdose psychedelics report minimal acute effects from these substances yet claim a range of long-term general health and well-being benefits [23].”
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“The fact that our sample consists largely of younger, highly educated individuals, however, is in line with other studies on the subject (Polito and Stevenson, 2019; Rosenbaum et al., 2020).”
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“…in microdosing (which consists of semiregular administration of sub-perceptual doses of psychedelics) (Polito and Liknaitzky 2022) has increased in recent years, both for therapeutic and nontherapeutic intentions (Cameron, Nazarian, and Olson 2020; Polito and Stevenson 2019; Winstock et al. 2021).”
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Psychedelics and schizophrenia: A mystery in history
Haden, M., Woods, B., & Paschall, S. A. (2023) · Journal of Psychedelic Studies · doi:10.1556/2054.2023.00277 · Cited by 6
From Outsider to Insider: A Look at the Subculture of Microdosing
Beaton, B., & Gerber, J. (2024) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2024.2336198 · Cited by 2
“Moreover, people who engage in illicit drug use, particularly LSD or psilocybin use, may do so for a variety of reasons that each appear to stem from self-betterment (Beaton et al. 2020; Fadiman and Korb 2019; Johnstad 2018; Kuypers et al. 2019; Polito, Stevenson, and Arnone 2019; Webb et al. 2019).”
InfluentialIntersections of Psychedelics, Mystical Experiences, and Hypnosis
Elkins, G. R. (2025) · International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis · doi:10.1080/00207144.2025.2554387 · Cited by 2
“Psychedelic-assisted therapy has shown promise in treatment of a range of problems such as symptoms of depression (R. L. Carhart-Harris & Goodwin, 2017; Polito & Stevenson, 2019), PTSD (Hood, et al., 2024), smoking cessation (Johnson et al., 2014), and pain (Hutten et al., 2019).”
Anchesi, I., Astorino, M. F., Raffaele, I., Donato, D. S., Silvestro, S., Minuti, A., Calabrò, M., Scuruchi, M., & Cipriano, G. L. (2025) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells14231872 · Cited by 2
Exploring a Decade of Microdosing Research: A Qualitative Meta-synthesis of Microdosing Literature
Beaton, B. (2026) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2026.2624690 · Cited by 2
“Beyond promoting positive effects, microdosing is also associated with the mitigation of negative mental health symptoms, particularly depression, and anxiety (Beaton et al. 2020; Polito and Stevenson 2019; Rosenbaum et al. 2020).”
Persistent Tinnitus after Inhaled N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)
Diab, H., & Malcolm, B. (2020) · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs · doi:10.1080/02791072.2020.1847366 · Cited by 2
Al-Imam, A., Motyka, M. A., & Michalak, M. (2024) · European Journal of Investigation in Health Psychology and Education · doi:10.3390/ejihpe14030038 · Cited by 2
“On another note, people who microdose with psychedelics report minimal acute effects of these substances but say the long-term health and well-being benefits are significant [35,36].”
BackgroundIs there a place for psychedelics in sports practice?
Portes, M. A. M., Werle, I., & Bertoglio, L. J. (2025) · Acta Neuropsychiatrica · doi:10.1017/neu.2025.13 · Cited by 3
“…psychedelics as transient effects observed after administering usual doses but infrequently manifest in protocols using microdoses (Nichols, 2016; Polito & Stevenson, 2019; Schlag et al ., 2022; Ws´o ł , 2023; Murphy et al ., 2024; Neumann et al ., 2024; Yerubandi et al ., 2024) or when used in…”
Pharmacological assistance for psychotherapy
Lochtenberg, J., Kirshenbaum, A. P., & Johnson, M. W. (2021) · Emerging Trends in Drugs Addictions and Health · doi:10.1016/j.etdah.2021.100017 · Cited by 2
Risca, H. I. (2021) · Cited by 2
Ferenstein, G. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3910688 · Cited by 2
Polito, V., & Liknaitzky, P. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/edhqz · Cited by 2
“In a quasi-experimental, open-label study, Prochazkova et al. (2018) reported increases in both convergent and divergent thinking following ingestion of psilocybincontaining truffles in a retreat setting.”
BackgroundEvidence for tolerance in psychedelic microdosing from the self-blinding microdose trialPreprint
Baumann, S., Carhart-Harris, R. L., Nutt, D. J., Erritzøe, D., & Szigeti, B. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/s4qhf · Cited by 2
Facilitating real-life creative insight through psychedelic virtual realityPreprint
Siimon, T., Tulver, K., Kaup, K., Vasser, M., & Aru, J. (2023) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/zth7f · Cited by 4
Is Microdosing a Placebo?Preprint
Polito, V., & Liknaitzky, P. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/3ykst · Cited by 2
Exploring the effects of microdosing on health behaviour change
Prochazkova, L., de Carvalho, L. L., Marrouch, N., Encantado, J., & Teixeira, P. J. (2025) · Neuropharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2025.110688 · Cited by 3
Pierre, M. S., Argento, E., Cates, J., Kryskow, P., Harvey, K., Stamets, P. E., Santos-Brault, E., Paschall, S. A., Kuypers, K. P. C., Rootman, J. M., et al. (2025) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-025-06913-9 · Cited by 1
“…effects at the daily level, both of which reported positive changes in the areas of Connectedness, Creativity, and Wellbeing (Murphy et al. 2023; Polito and Stevenson 2019) More broadly, our findings are consistent with a growing literature document - ing microdosing-related changes congruent…”
InfluentialPsilocybin and Chronic Pain: A New Perspective for Future Pain Therapists?
Natoli, S., Cuomo, A., Marchesini, M., Luongo, L., Bianco, G. L., Guardamagna, V. A., & Yamaguchi, S. (2025) · Medical Sciences · doi:10.3390/medsci13040277 · Cited by 1
“Additionally, worries about how different patients might react due to individual genetic, brain biology, or mental health factors mean that it is necessary to focus on personalized treatment plans that provide the best results with the least risk [61].”
Tsang, V. W. L., Jones, T., Tsoi, S., Gorsuch, L., Dunn, R., & Schütz, C. G. (2026) · Psychedelics · doi:10.1016/j.psyche.2026.100009 · Cited by 1
Hernández‐Álvarez, E., Canino-Quijada, C., Roiz, S., Luzardo, O. P., & Henríquez‐Hernández, L. A. (2026) · Veterinary Sciences · doi:10.3390/vetsci13010096 · Cited by 1
“Although 1cp-LSD is not an authorized veterinary medicinal product, the protocol was approved on the grounds of its exploratory and welfare-oriented nature, the growing scientific interest in serotonergic psychedelics, and the use of sub-perceptual doses considered non-hallucinogenic [36].”
Škorik, M., Kalina, T., Pupiš, M., & Hrubý, M. (2026) · BMC Sports Science Medicine and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1186/s13102-026-01556-5 · Cited by 1
“The concept of microdosing originated in pharmacology, where it refers to administering small doses of sub-stances to minimize side effects and maximize efficacy [3, 4].”
Beidas, Z., Ragnhildstveit, A., Blackman, A., Anderson, T., Fewster, E. C., Syed, O. A., Sobolenko, V., Kanca, I. K., Jaglinska, M., Son, T., et al. (2026) · BJPsych Open · doi:10.1192/bjo.2025.10968 · Cited by 1
“10,29 Furthermore, the difficulty of blinding participants has constrained the conduct of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), given the inherent mind-altering properties of high-dose psychedelics 30 .”
Özaydın, Y., & Ozaydin, B. C. (2026) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/02698811261456196 · Cited by 1
“Psychedelic microdosing refers to the regular, repeated use of very low doses of classic psychedelics—most commonly LSD and psilocybin—typically around 1/10 to 1/20 of a standard dose (Johnstad, 2018; Polito and Stevenson, 2019).”
Petranker, R., Syed, O. A., Sobolenko, V., Giacobbe, P., Kruger, D. J., Aday, J. S., Lake, S., & Lucas, P. (2026) · International Journal of Drug Policy · doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105459 · Cited by 1
Møter med det hellige: bruk av LSD,fleinsopp og andre psykedeliske stoffer
Pedersen, W. (2020) · Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning · doi:10.18261/issn.1504-291x-2020-04-03 · Cited by 2
Golia, K. (2022) · Consciousness Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology · doi:10.53074/cstp.2022.37 · Cited by 1
Solonin, S., Belova, M. V., Tereshkina, N., Kasholkina, E. A., Tyurin, I., Godkov, M. A., & Potskhveriya, M. (2023) · Medicine of Extreme Situations · doi:10.47183/mes.2023.052 · Cited by 1
Do undergraduates’ views of psychedelics relate to the context for psychedelic use?
Petrovitch, D., Allen, J. V., Mitchell, S. M., & Littlefield, A. K. (2025) · Drug Science Policy and Law · doi:10.1177/20503245241308747 · Cited by 2
“The Benjamini – Hochberg (BH) procedure (Benjamini and Hochberg, 1995) was used to correct for multiple comparisons, with a false-discovery rate of 5% and tests grouped by item pool (e.g., 15 ordinally measured expectancies adapted from Polito and Stevenson, 2019).”
Chen, B. K., LaGamma, C. T., Xu, X., Deng, S., Brachman, R. A., Suckow, R. F., Cooper, T. B., Landry, D. W., & Denny, C. A. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/712752 · Cited by 1
“Although, to our knowledge, these microdoses of (R,S)-ketamine and its metabolites have not previously been studied, there has been a recent resurgence in examining the potential benefit of microdosing, in which small quantities of psychedelic substances are repeatedly ingested (39-47).”
BackgroundConsciousness and Its Disorders
Tagliazucchi, E. (2020) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.24020-0 · Cited by 1
Journey To The Centre Of The Mind: Psychedelic Treatment of Mental Health in Aotearoa
Lutyens, D. (2023) · Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka (Figshare) · doi:10.26686/wgtn.21904854 · Cited by 2
Osobnostní rozvoj při zotavování se ze závislosti na omamných látkách
Olivová, A., & Slezáčková, A. (2021) · E-psychologie · doi:10.29364/epsy.393
Explaining religion from the inside-out
van Elk, M. (2022) · Religion Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1080/2153599x.2022.2050788
“There is even evidence that what Luhrmann calls “proclivity,” the personality trait of “absorption,” can be changed as a function of experience (Polito et al., 2019).”
BackgroundWell-Being and the Outdoors: An Environmentalism Study Among a Religious Student Population
Pires-Gifford, L., Hoffmann, S., Arroyo, E., Jones, N., Waite, B., & Wright, R. R. (2022) · Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research · doi:10.24839/2325-7342.jn27.3.185
Wright, R. R., Treadwell, K. R. H., & Hughes, J. L. (2022) · Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research · doi:10.24839/2325-7342.jn27.3.223 · Cited by 1
Psychedelic microdosing hits a rough patch in clinical trials
Plackett, B. (2022) · Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-022-02876-5
Mendelevich, В. D., Konovalova, V. N., Galiullina, G. M., & Galiullina, L. К. (2022) · Neurology Bulletin · doi:10.17816/nb119537
Metadata
- Authors
- Polito, V., & Stevenson, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Polito, Vince
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2019-02-06
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e0211023
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6364961
- OpenAlex
- W2895986834
- Cited by
- 235
- References
- 87
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 18
- FWCI
- 34.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- 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, psychological functioning, mood, depression, stress, attention, distractibility, absorption, neuroticism, creativity, mystical experience, sense of agency, expectancy bias, mental health, well-being
- MeSH terms
- Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Adult, Attention, Culture, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Female, Hallucinogens, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Personality, Psychometrics, Empirical Research, Young Adult
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