ArticleScientific reports2021
Positive expectations predict improved mental-health outcomes linked to psychedelic microdosing.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Keeping the promise: a critique of the current state of microdosing research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Risk of bias in randomized clinical trials on psychedelic medicine: A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Therapeutic effect of psilocybin in addiction: A systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Restoration of Attention by Rest in a Multitasking World: Theory, Methodology, and Empirical Evidence.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Multimodal creativity assessments following acute and sustained microdosing of lysergic acid diethylamide.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Application of Teach-back health education combined with continuity care in patients with knee joint training injuries: an analysis of clinical effects.Frontiers in public health · 2025Trial
- Psilocybin-assisted neurofeedback for the improvement of executive functions: a randomized semi-naturalistic-lab feasibility study.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Trial
- Inter-individual variability in neural response to low doses of LSD.Translational psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Effects of discontinuation of serotonergic antidepressants prior to psilocybin therapy versus escitalopram for major depression.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Greater subjective effects of a low dose of LSD in participants with depressed mood.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Patient perspectives and experiences with psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression: a qualitative study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Modulation of long-term potentiation following microdoses of LSD captured by thalamo-cortical modelling in a randomised, controlled trial.BMC neuroscience · 2024Trial
- Microdosing with psilocybin mushrooms: a double-blind placebo-controlled study.Translational psychiatry · 2022Trial
- Psilocybin microdosing does not affect emotion-related symptoms and processing: A preregistered field and lab-based study.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2022Trial
- Microdosing psilocybin for major depressive disorder: study protocol for a phase II double-blind placebo-controlled randomised partial crossover trial.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Causal Inference in Studies with Functional Unmasking: Psychedelics and Beyond.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- On the meaning of "plasticity" in neuroscience and mental health research and its relation to the action of psychedelic therapy.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Do undergraduates' views of psychedelics relate to the context for psychedelic use?Drug science, policy and law · 2025Article
- Salvinorin A andInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Psychedelic microdosing describes the ingestion of near-threshold perceptible doses of classic psychedelic substances. Anecdotal reports and observational studies suggest that microdosing may promote positive mood and well-being, but recent placebo-controlled studies failed to find compelling evidence for this. The present study collected web-based mental health and related data using a prospective (before, during and after) design. Individuals planning a weekly microdosing regimen completed surveys at strategic timepoints, spanning a core four-week test period. Eighty-one participants completed the primary study endpoint. Results revealed increased self-reported psychological well-being, emotional stability and reductions in state anxiety and depressive symptoms at the four-week primary endpoint, plus increases in psychological resilience, social connectedness, agreeableness, nature relatedness and aspects of psychological flexibility. However, positive expectancy scores at baseline predicted subsequent improvements in well-being, suggestive of a significant placebo response. This study highlights a role for positive expectancy in predicting positive outcomes following psychedelic microdosing and cautions against zealous inferences on its putative therapeutic value.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.