What the microdosing research actually shows.
An annotated bibliography of the research on psychedelic microdosing. Each entry states what a study found and what it doesn't prove — including the rigorous, placebo-controlled work where microdosing performs no better than a dummy pill.
Every stat and claim is checked against the source paper by independent AI models before an entry is posted. This is an educational bibliography, not medical advice, and it does not endorse or facilitate obtaining any substance.
The literature, entry by entry
When people expected microdosing to help, it did — a study that points to a strong placebo effect
A 2021 study followed 81 adults who were planning to start microdosing psychedelics on their own, tracking their mental health weekly for four weeks and measuring how much they expected to improve before they began.
A 2022 review pooled 44 studies of microdosing across nearly seven decades — reporting a spread of effects, widely varying study quality, and the authors' caution that it is too soon to call those effects mostly the placebo effect
A 2022 review gathered together the scientific studies on microdosing psychedelics — taking doses too small to cause a full trip — published from 1955 through 2021, to see what the research as a whole shows.
Repeated low-dose LSD was safe but no better than placebo for adult ADHD
A 2025 clinical trial gave adults with ADHD repeated low doses of LSD — the kind of dose people take when 'microdosing' — to test whether it eased their symptoms better than a dummy pill.
Microdose LSD stretched how healthy older adults perceived spans of a few seconds
A controlled trial gave healthy older adults a single microdose of LSD — a barely-perceptible dose — to test whether it changed how they perceived the passage of short spans of time.
Single LSD microdoses produced dose-related drug effects but left mood and thinking largely unchanged in healthy volunteers
A 2019 laboratory study gave healthy volunteers single very low doses of LSD — the range people use when 'microdosing' — to test how the doses affected their mood, emotions, and thinking under controlled conditions.
Repeated low doses of LSD were safe and well tolerated in healthy older adults
A 2019 phase 1 trial gave healthy older adults repeated low doses of LSD to check whether the doses were safe and well tolerated and how much drug reached the blood.
A single 20-microgram dose of LSD eased experimentally induced pain in healthy adults, while lower doses did not
A 2020 controlled lab study tested whether single low doses of LSD could dull pain in 24 healthy adults, using a cold-water pain task.
Single low doses of LSD produced selective, beneficial effects on mood and thinking in healthy volunteers, with 5 micrograms the smallest noticeable dose
A 2020 controlled study gave healthy volunteers single low doses of LSD — the microgram-level amounts people take when 'microdosing' — to find the smallest dose that noticeably affects mood and thinking.
In the first large real-world study of microdosing, people reported feeling better on dosing days and lower depression and stress over six weeks — but with no control group and strong expectations in play
A 2019 study followed 98 people who were already microdosing psychedelics on their own, tracking their mood and thinking day by day for six weeks to see what actually changed.
A study of 278 real-world microdosers built a catalog of both the benefits and the challenges people report
A 2019 study collected written reports from 278 people who microdose LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, or both, and sorted what they said into a shared list of the benefits and the downsides they experienced.
In a survey of 1,116 microdosers, the most common reason to microdose was to boost performance, and about one in five reported a mostly short-lived, psychological downside
A 2019 online survey of 1,116 people who microdose psychedelics asked about their reasons for microdosing and any negative effects they had experienced.
In the largest app-based survey of microdosers, health and wellness were the top reasons people gave, and those with mental health concerns reported slightly lower depression, anxiety, and stress than non-microdosers
A 2021 survey used a mobile app to compare people who microdose psychedelics with people who don't, looking at their reasons for microdosing and their reported mental health.
In a large observational study, psilocybin microdosers showed small- to medium-sized improvements in mood and mental health at one month compared with non-microdosing controls
A 2022 study followed adults who chose to microdose psilocybin mushrooms and a comparison group who did not, tracking their mood and mental health over about a month.
In a blinded test, psilocybin mushroom microdoses caused felt effects but no lasting boost to well-being, creativity, or thinking beyond placebo
A 2022 study gave healthy adults who were new to microdosing real psilocybin mushroom doses and identical dummy doses, without telling them which was which, to test the effects.
Repeated low doses of LSD were safe but did not improve mood or thinking in healthy adults
A 2022 controlled trial gave healthy adults repeated low doses of LSD — the kind people take when 'microdosing' — to test whether it actually changed their mood or thinking.
The largest placebo-controlled microdosing study found the benefits were real — but the placebo produced them too
A 2021 citizen-science study followed adults who were already microdosing psychedelics on their own and had them secretly test their real doses against identical dummy capsules.
A veteran-led study is documenting how U.S. combat veterans have used microdosing for PTSD — the first of its kind (recruiting; no results yet)
Microdosing Vets is a retrospective, confidential doctoral study documenting the experiences of U.S. combat veterans who have microdosed LSD (with or without psilocybin) for PTSD. It is recruiting now and has no results yet.
Are you a combat veteran who microdoses?
The study behind this bibliography is documenting veterans' lived experience of self-directed microdosing. A five-minute screening tells you if you're eligible.
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