Placebo Effect May Explain Benefits of Psychedelic Microdosing

Psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and LSD, have long been a point of interest for researchers investigating potential therapies for the treatment of addiction, depression, and PTSD.

But more recently, the practice of microdosing these drugs has gained popularity as a means of potentially boosting cognition and improving psychological well-being.

A microdose is commonly considered about 10% of the recreational dose of a psychedelic drug and does not induce hallucinations. Typically, this dosage would be administered two or three times per week.

Anecdotal reports suggest microdosing can improve an individual's focus, mood, and levels of energy and creativity.But the findings from a recent study on microdosing published inElifesuggest these benefits might just be the result of the placebo effect.

The Research

The study set out to determine whether psychedelic microdosing can improve cognitive function and psychological well-being.

Researchers developed a novel citizen-science initiative with a self-blinding setup procedure that enabled participants to use their own psychedelics and implement placebo control and randomization without clinical supervision.

该方法在全球范围内增加了可访问性，并保持低成本，这使得191微型镜头参与。该实验是迄今为止对迷幻学的最大安慰剂对照研究。

For a four-week course of treatment, participants were randomly assigned to three groups: one group took placebos throughout, another group microdosed throughout, and the final group completed two weeks of placebos and two weeks of microdosing.

参与者被允许使用任何荧光物质并确定自己的剂量。大多数单独的Microds含LSD或含Psilocybin的蘑菇。

The results showed participants in the microdose group observed significant improvements in well-being, mindfulness, life satisfaction, and paranoia. Interestingly, these same observations were also made by participants in the placebo groups.

"Our data clearly shows that microdosing leads to improvements in a wide range of psychological measures, confirming many of the anecdotal claims about it," says lead researcher Balasz Szigeti, PhD.

Szigeti continues, "However, participants taking placebos experienced the same improvements as the microdose group, arguing that the mechanism behind the benefits is not pharmacological, but rather explained by placebo-like expectation effects."

安慰剂效应

The placebo effect is a phenomenon that's been well documented. The effect demonstrates the power of the human brain to facilitate healing, and, in fact, can be just as effective as actual treatment in some cases.

“我们知道(安慰剂效应)是一个强大的component," says pharmacologistDavid Mokler, PhD. "Brains are amazing at making changes to align with what we expect.”

Mokler's work in the study of psychedelics has spanned 40 years. After leaving the field due to lack of funding, the revitalization in research has brought him back, and he now serves as advisor toHavn Life, a biotech company focused on research around microdosing therapies.

While it's not fully understood how the brain so often meets these expectations, the ritual of treatment and the attitude toward it both play an important role. Belief in the efficacy of a treatment can be a powerful influence on its success.

"The context surrounding the use of psychedelics as a therapy is emerging as a major contributor to the outcome," says psychologistDustin Hines, PhD. "Positive and supportive contexts during the psychedelic experience appear to be a key factor."

因为研究样本不是随机的，但相反，自我选择，Szigeti指出，参与者一般对微型和迷幻学具有积极的态度。如结果所示，对胶囊含量的信念是比实际含量更重要的决定因素。

"Such positive attitude likely increased the participants' expectation of a benefit, which is the key to a strong placebo response," he says.

说明这种情绪，在研究之后，一项研究参与者指出，“我刚刚检查了剩下的信封，看来我确实在整个审判中都在安慰。我很惊讶......看来我似乎能够产生一个强大的“改变意识”的体验，只需要围绕微鼠的可能性。“

When asked if microdosing can still be considered a beneficial practice in light of potential placebo response, Szigeti returns to the role of belief, as well. If you believe in microdosing, he says, it will deliver benefits. But those benefits do not reach beyond the placebo effect.

To better understand this, future research might need to focus on the dosage amount and purity level of the psychedelics consumed by participants.

"Long term, placebo will eventually fail, so these types of studies really need to be done with well-documented quantities of each psychedelic over a longer duration to draw any conclusions about their effectiveness," saysJackie von Salm, PhD, organic chemist and co-founder of Psilera Bioscience. "It is also very important to remember that not every psychedelic is created equal and the indication can determine the necessary dosing."

The Future of Psychedelic Therapy

虽然迷幻治疗和微量疗法可能被视为新时代或时尚的研究和治疗领域，但在许多文化中使用迷幻学福祉是一种古老的练习。

“由于伟大需求与更广泛的社会验收方面，研究人员已经开始探索幻素聚糖作为对抑郁症的新治疗，包括与已经用于千年的化合物，”Hines说。“人类已知化合物像Peyote，Ayahuasca，San Pedro仙人掌数千年。西方社会刚刚变得醒来。“

值得注意的是，本研究中进行的微型与用于治疗不同心理条件的荧光疗法不同。

"Both involve psychedelics, but that is the only similarity," Szigeti says. "Accordingly, the medical utility of these two practices should be evaluated independently. Our results are negative about microdosing, however this should not be mixed into the discussion of psychedelic therapy. Crucially, there is strong emerging evidence that macrodosing can be useful for a number of mental health conditions."

But as we're seeing a boom in psychedelic research, it's very possible that the full range of benefits has yet to be seen.

“Could it help with depression or PTSD?" Mokler says. "That’s where I think, therapeutically, we might want to go, whether low doses can help someone who couldn’t be helped otherwise.”