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Microdosing is gaining popularity with a new breed of health seekers. These self-experimenters take a very small amount of psilocybin mushrooms or LSD to try to reduce anxiety, stress and depression. Some claim the practice gives them access to joy, creativity and connection they can鈥檛 get otherwise.

This isn鈥檛 a full-blown acid trip 鈥� or even close. If you see visions, it鈥檚 not a microdose. People who microdose don鈥檛 do it every day. Instead, they take tiny doses intermittently, on a schedule or when they feel it could be beneficial.

One small study suggests any psychological benefits come from users’ expectations 鈥� the placebo effect. But the science is still new and research is ongoing.

The substances are illegal in most places, but the wave of scientific research focused on the benefits of supervised hallucinatory experiences has spurred Oregon and Colorado to legalize psychedelic therapy. Further opening the door to microdosing, a handful of cities have officially directed police to make psychedelics a low priority for enforcement.

What are people who microdose reporting?

鈥淚 started microdosing and within a couple of months, I had a general sense of well-being that I hadn鈥檛 had in so long,鈥� said Marine Corps combat veteran Matt Metzger.

He grows his own mushrooms in Olympia, Washington, where psilocybin has been decriminalized. Taking small amounts of psilocybin helps him cope with PTSD, he said.

In Loveland, Colorado, Aubrie Gates said microdosing psilocybin has made her a better parent and enhanced her creativity.

鈥淚t makes you feel viscerally in your body a new way of being, a more healthy way of being,鈥� Gates said. 鈥淎nd so instead of just like thinking with your conscious mind, 鈥極h, I need to be more present,鈥� you feel what it feels like to be more present.鈥�

What does the science say about microdosing?

These kinds of claims are hard to measure in the lab, say scientists studying microdosing.

For starters, belief is so important to the experience that empty capsules can produce the same effects.

involving people who microdose, participants didn鈥檛 know until afterward whether they had spent four weeks taking their usual microdose or placebos. Psychological measures improved after four weeks for everyone in the study, regardless of whether they were taking microdoses or empty capsules.

鈥淚t appears that I was indeed taking placebos throughout the trial. I鈥檓 quite astonished,鈥� wrote one of the study participants. 鈥淚t seems I was able to generate a powerful 鈥榓ltered consciousness鈥� experience based only (on) the expectation around the possibility of a microdose.鈥�

Scientists haven鈥檛 found lasting effects on creativity or cognition, according to a review of a handful of small placebo-controlled trials of microdosing LSD.

One small study did find glimmers of an effect of small LSD doses on vigor and elation in people with mild depression when compared with a placebo.

鈥淚t may only work in some people and not in other people, so it makes it hard for us to measure it under laboratory conditions,鈥� said University of Chicago neuroscience researcher Harriet de Wit, who led the research.

The potential has spurred an to conduct early trials of microdoses of LSD for severe depression and in cancer patients experiencing despair.

Meanwhile, few rigorous studies of psilocybin microdosing have been done.

Psilocybin mushrooms are the most often used among psychedelic drugs, according to a report by the nonpartisan Rand research group. that 8 million people in the U.S. used psilocybin in 2023 and half of them reported microdosing the last time they used it.

A few words of caution about microdosing

Even microdosing advocates caution that the long-term effects have not been studied in humans.

Other warnings: Unregulated products from shady sources could contain harmful substances. And accidentally taking too much could cause disturbing sensations.

The nonprofit Fireside Project offers free phone support for people during a psychedelic experience and has received hundreds of calls about microdosing.

鈥淧eople may call just to simply process their experience,鈥� said project founder Josh White, who microdoses the plant iboga and LSD to 鈥渃ontinue to deepen the insight about my life鈥� that he gained in a full-blown psychedelic experience.

Balazs Szigeti of University of California San Francisco, who has studied microdosing, said it may be a way to harness the placebo effect for personal benefit.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like a self-fulfilling prophecy,鈥� Szigeti said. 鈥淧eople who are interested in microdosing should give microdosing a try, but only if they鈥檙e enthusiastic about it, if they have a positive expectation about the benefits of microdosing.鈥�

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.