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
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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A short note whenever a new study is added to the bibliography — the microdosing research as it's published. No spam.
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