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Cited by 192Psychedelics and Drug StudiesPain Management and Placebo EffectParanormal Experiences and Beliefs

Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing

Open access
Szigeti, Balázs, Kartner, Laura, Blemings, Allan, Rosas, Fernando, Feilding, Amanda, Nutt, David J, Carhart-Harris, Robin L, Erritzoe, David·2021·eLife
DOI 10.7554/elife.62878PMC PMC7925122
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Abstract

Microdosing is the practice of regularly using low doses of psychedelic drugs. Anecdotal reports suggest that microdosing enhances well-being and cognition; however, such accounts are potentially biased by the placebo effect. This study used a 'self-blinding' citizen science initiative, where participants were given online instructions on how to incorporate placebo control into their microdosing routine without clinical supervision. The study was completed by 191 participants, making it the largest placebo-controlled trial on psychedelics to-date. All psychological outcomes improved significantly from baseline to after the 4 weeks long dose period for the microdose group; however, the placebo group also improved and no significant between-groups differences were observed. Acute (emotional state, drug intensity, mood, energy, and creativity) and post-acute (anxiety) scales showed small, but significant microdose vs. placebo differences; however, these results can be explained by participants breaking blind. The findings suggest that anecdotal benefits of microdosing can be explained by the placebo effect.

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Crossref · 10.7554/elife.62878

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  • Placebo-controlled studies found no differences in anxiety between microdosing and placebo groups.

    “Szigeti et al. (2021) and Marschall et al. (2021) found no differences in anxiety between microdosing and placebo groups.”

    From Psychedelic Microdosing, Mindfulness, and Anxiety: A Cross-Sectional Mediation Study (2023) · cites this paper as Szigeti et al. (2021)

    The Results (Acute and post-acute outcomes; page unavailable) report significantly lower anxiety at the end of microdose weeks than placebo weeks (p=0.03). The Discussion reports that this difference disappeared after accounting for participants’ guesses about what they had taken. The unqualified claim of no anxiety difference omits the significant initial finding. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Therapeutic benefit of low doses of psychedelics remains to be demonstrated in a well-controlled clinical study.

    “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 [244]

  • Data on human psychedelic microdosing are equivocal.

    “the data on human psychedelic microdosing are equivocal”

    From Psychedelics and Other Psychoplastogens for Treating Mental Illness. (2021) · cites this paper as [244]

  • Another prospective study investigating a general population sample could not attribute changes to MD solely.

    “and another prospective study investigating a general population sample could not attribute changes to MD solely (18).”

    From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [18]

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1 of the 46 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Fadiman J Krob S 2017 Microdosing: the phenomenon, research results, and startling surprises Lecture Presented at the Psychedelic Science 2017 Conference

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Authors
Szigeti, B., Kartner, L., Blemings, A., Rosas, F., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. J., Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Erritzoe, D.
Affiliations
  • Imperial College London (GB)
  • Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
  • Beckley Foundation (GB)
Corresponding author
Szigeti, Balázs
ORCID
Venue
eLife
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Published
2021-03-02
Volume
10
ISSN
2050-084X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.7554/elife.62878
PMC
PMC7925122
OpenAlex
W3134377893
Cited by
192
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 22
FWCI
23.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (ACF-2013-21-501, CL-2017-21-004)
  • Academy of Medical Sciences (SGL019\1063)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
Keywords
psychedelic microdosing, placebo effect, citizen science, subjective well-being, mood, anxiety, creativity, emotional state
MeSH terms
Citizen Science, Adult, Affect, Cognition, Creativity, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Emotions, Female, Hallucinogens, Humans, Male, Placebo Effect

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