According to the largest study after the practice, improvements in well-being and life satisfaction can be accompanied by psychedelics with microdosing, none other than the placebo effect.
The trend for LSD or psilocybin with microdosing emerged in Silicon Valley a few years ago and has spread around the world with advocates reporting more well-being, creativity and everyday cognitive performance.
But with so much evidence for anecdotal microdosing, scientists are unclear whether taking regular small doses of the substances will reach practitioners. The illegality of the drugs does not help their search for answers.
To find out more, researchers at Imperial College London recruited 191 members of the public, who already had microdosing with LSD, for a placebo-controlled trial. This is by far the largest investigation into the effects of psychedelics.
The scientists found that those who took the placebo, including those who microdosed for several weeks, had less anxiety, improved mood and better creativity.
“Our findings confirm some of the beneficial psychological effects of microdosing from anecdotal reports and observational studies, such as a better sense of well-being and life satisfaction,” said Balázs Szigeti, lead author and research fellow at Imperial’s Center for Psychedelic Research.
‘But we’re seeing the same improvements in participants taking placebos. This suggests that the improvements may not be due to the pharmacological action of the drug, but rather that it can be explained by the placebo effect. ‘
The researchers recruited people who had already done microdosing with LSD and who could participate online. The volunteers followed instructions to prepare gel capsules containing a low dose of LSD, estimated at about 13μg, or a placebo. Then they follow the instructions to confuse the capsules so they do not know what they are taking.
The researchers used barcodes that, when scanned, were recorded when each participant took a placebo or a microdose of the psychedelic drug. During the four-week study, the volunteers conducted surveys on how they felt and conducted a series of online cognitive tests.
Usually, those who took a boost in psychological well-being and creativity during the trial reported within a few hours of taking a microdose, but those who took the placebo capsules reported similar effects with no statistical difference between the two groups. The findings, published in eLife, suggest that the expectation of taking a small dose of the drug was as good as taking the drug itself.
Although the scientists believe the results are valid, they concede that the study is not as strong as a standard, laboratory-based placebo-controlled clinical study. Since the participants obtained their own drugs, it is impossible to be sure what doses each is taking, and many of the participants were probably familiar enough with the effects of the drug to guess whether they were taking a microdose of LSD or a placebo. capsule.
But the success of such a cheap trial has spurred scientists. The idea of recruiting members of the public and making them work ‘self-blind’ for online trials can now become a valuable tool in other areas of medicine, for example, to assess the benefits of cannabis products containing the active ingredient cannabidiol.
“Taking into account the placebo effect is important when evaluating trends such as the use of cannabidiol oils, fast diets or supplements where social pressure or the expectations of users can lead to a strong placebo response,” said David Erritzoe, senior author and clinical senior lecturer, said. in psychiatry at Imperial. “Self-blinded civic science initiatives can be used as an inexpensive, initial screening tool before launching expensive clinical trials.”