Microdosing as a Response to the Meaning Crisis: A Qualitative Analysis

This survey study (n=118) analysed qualitative reports regarding microdosing. Data from participants suggested four main emergent themes: reasons for microdosing, the practice of microdosing itself, outcomes linked to microdosing, and meta-commentary about microdosing.

Abstract

“The use of psychedelic substances in both humanistic and mainstream clinical research has been increasing in the last decade. In particular, the practice of microdosing—ingesting sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics—has been increasing in popularity, but large-scale qualitative analyses are still uncommon. This study attempted to recognize emergent themes in qualitative reports regarding the experience of microdosing to enrich the theoretical landscape in psychedelic research and propose future research directions for both basic and clinical research. Participants were people who reported microdosing at least once in the last year; they described their experiences using an online survey. Data from 118 informative responses suggested four main emergent themes: reasons for microdosing, the practice of microdosing itself, outcomes linked to microdosing, and meta-commentary about microdosing. We use meaning-making theory and propose that, even at low doses, psychedelic substances can provide a sense of meaning. Our results suggest that many of the reported benefits occur regardless of motivation to microdose and are likely due to the enhanced psychological flexibility and a sense of connectedness made possible due to the use of psychedelics. Double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments are required to substantiate these reports.”

Authors: Rotem Petranker, Juensung Kim & Thomas Anderson

Summary

A large-scale qualitative analysis of 118 informative responses from people who reported microdosing at least once in the last year suggested four main emergent themes: reasons for microdosing, the practice of microdosing itself, outcomes linked to microdosing, and meta-commentary about microdosing.

Introduction

A new psychedelic praxis has emerged: psychedelic microdosing. It is based on plausible mechanisms of change, including biochemical reactions in brain activity and metabolism and psychologically profound existential insights.

High-dose psychedelics drastically alter the acute perception of reality, and may even impair normal functions. In contrast, sub-hallucinogenic “microdoses” of psilocybin or LSD do not appear to impair normal functioning, yet users still report numerous benefits.

Psychedelic communities offer opportunities for social interactions and frameworks for meaning-making and developing a sense of purpose. These opportunities may be of particular value in contemporary secular society where many people face ever-increasing feelings of isolation, disconnection, and meaninglessness.

Although most modern psychedelic research is framed in terms of mental health, a limited amount of modern research focuses on the human flourishing side of psychedelics. This research has shown benefits to mood, focus, creativity, and other aspects of human flourishing.

Present Project

We used data from an online survey to understand the reasons for and uses of psychedelic microdosing in existing communities. The results are informative for their purposes, but fail to offer a first-person perspective on the reasons people start microdosing.

Participants

Participants were recruited through posts on the online forum “reddit”. Of the 170 participants who provided comments, 52 were excluded from analysis after the completion of coding, including 28 for calls to legalize psychedelics or volunteering for future research, 16 for identifying themselves as non-microdosers, and four for providing irrelevant commentary.

Materials and Procedures

The present study focuses only on the data obtained in response to the prompt, “If you have any other comments you would like to leave about microdosing please share them here”. Twenty-eight participants were excluded from the present analysis.

Data Analysis

Coding was conducted by the second author, a researcher in life span developmental psychology trained in qualitative analysis, to avoid potential bias. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyze participants’ reports, and commonalities among participants’ experiences were identified.

Analysis of the participant reports began with a thorough reading of the reports, noting patterns, and similarities between reports. Themes were uncovered through a process of abstraction, with NVivo used to manually sort open-coded units into groups of similar topics or themes.

Analyses of 118 participants’ comments produced 123 themes, which were grouped into primary themes and a number of subheadings within each. Participants generally reported on one or more of four aspects of their experience of microdosing.

Results

Our respondents started microdosing to reduce clinical symptoms or enhance their life. Both intentions precipitated an increased sense of connectedness.

Reasons for Microdosing

The most common reasons given for taking up microdosing were clinical in nature, especially for mood disorders. Other reasons included improving one’s ability to take other perspectives, change their personalities, or grow as people, and gaining a deeper “insight into life”.

Practice of Microdosing

Participants reported difficulty calculating the correct dose of various substances for their height, weight, and tolerance, which led to some participants giving up microdosing.

Participants reported using microdosing in combination with other practices or substances, such as meditation, exercise, therapy, dietary changes, or a combination of the above, as part of a self-improvement regimen.

Participants reported taking microdoses irregularly, usually as they felt they needed a boost to mood or performance. Four participants observed that the results of a microdose can be strongly tied to one’s mindset, and one additional participant noted the importance of a supportive environment.

Outcomes of Microdosing

Participants frequently reported clinical benefits from microdosing, particularly regarding mood disorders, stress, and addiction. However, some participants reported side effects, particularly anxiety and depersonalization.

Participants reported improvements in reading comprehension, spatial awareness, abstract comprehension, athletic prowess, motivation and enjoyment of work, as well as a clearer mind, improved focus, greater creativity, and improved interpersonal connection.

Many reports were in keeping with reported reasons for microdosing, but the largest share of reported experiences concerned the existential effects of microdosing. Participants reported an improved quality of life, greater self-acceptance, and a deeper appreciation of life.

Meta-Commentary on Microdosing

There was a large share of negative commentary about microdosing psychedelics, with 11 participants warning that microdosing was not for everyone.

Ten participants expressed optimism regarding microdosing, with two expressing a hope that education regarding effective microdosing would one day become more widespread.

Participants noted that different types of psychedelic compounds had different effects, and made comparisons between the effects of microdosing psychedelics and other commonly used stimulants.

Discussion

We have extrapolated across themes present in participant reports to assemble an overarching descriptive narrative of common reasons to start microdosing. This narrative suggests two complementary narratives of acute reported benefits.

Microdosing was reported to be a response to various mental health issues or to enhance creativity and productivity. The outcomes were often broader in scope than initially intended.

Acute reported benefits are in accordance with the existing literature, and both symptom reduction and self-improvement may share a cumulative distal outcome of enhanced sense of connectedness with others.

Two Narratives

Participants reported being successful in their self-treatment goals, with many reporting reduced depression and anxiety, though not universally. Psychedelics at higher doses show promise as effective treatment options for mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders. Participants reported that the most common negative outcome with psychedelic microdosing was that nothing happened. Most negative reactions were paired with dosing inaccuracy, which could be alleviated by proper experimental control and/or legal regulation.

Microdosers reported being successful in their attempts to improve their well-being, often through increased creativity and enhanced focused attention. Despite empirical limitations, a growing theoretical literature considers whether higher doses of psychedelics may improve well-being in nonclinical populations.

Shared Benefits

Participants reported that microdosing improved their ability to take their problems in perspective, decreased identification with thoughts and feelings, and paid attention to disparities between one’s values and behavior. These reported benefits correspond to some of the fundamental principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Participants reported increased psychological flexibility after microdosing without ACT or any other kind of therapy. This effect was similar to that reported after high-dose psychedelics.

Psychological flexibility was reported to be enhanced by microdoses without therapy, leaving two questions open: first, is therapy necessary for psychological flexibility brought about by psychedelics, and second, could microdosing over time be as effective as single high doses in increasing psychological flexibility?

Connectedness and Sense of Meaning

We speculate that the shared benefits of higher psychedelic doses may be indications of an increased sense of meaning, purpose, or goal-directedness in life. Microdosing may not have these effects for everyone, but trait absorption may be useful in predicting who would benefit more from microdosing.

In this historical moment, where loneliness and isolation are increasing, it is particularly important to feel an increased sense of connectedness. This can be achieved by increasing social interaction and decreasing the amount of time spent on social media.

With the increase in single-person households and decline of in-person interaction, there has been a decline in membership to religious communities, which has led to a decline in religious participation and a rise in feelings of loneliness, isolation, and disconnection.

Some people find microdosing psychedelics to alleviate the apparent societal loss of connection and meaning, as the psychedelics increase the vividness of experience, which allows for positive re-evaluation of existing social connections and realizing new meaning in old ideas or phenomena.

Limitations

The present study was limited by possible bias in either the researchers or the sample, and by the fact that the data were collected as a serendipitous addition to a predominately quantitative survey. Nevertheless, the present study represents an important step in understanding psychedelic microdosers.

Conclusion

In our sample, participants took psychedelics at low doses to address clinical issues or enhance flourishing, but also reported more global benefits such as an increased sense of connectedness.

Study details

Topics studied
Microdosing

Study characteristics
Survey Qualitative

Authors

Authors associated with this publication with profiles on Blossom

Rotem Petranker
Rotem Petranker is the associated director of the Psychedelic Studies Research Program at the University of Toronto and co-founder of the Toronto Centre for Psychedelic Science.

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