ArticleeLife2021
Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing.
Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 7 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
77 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy and Safety of Psychedelic Microdosing on Psychological Outcomes in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.CNS drugs · 2026Pooled it
- The Use of Psychedelics in the Treatment of Adult ADHD: A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Psilocybin for major depressive disorder: a systematic review of randomized controlled studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Keeping the promise: a critique of the current state of microdosing research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled 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
- The Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) Task Force Report: Serotonergic Psychedelic Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2023Pooled it
- Safety and Efficacy of Repeated Low-Dose LSD for ADHD Treatment in Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Multimodal creativity assessments following acute and sustained microdosing of lysergic acid diethylamide.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Inter-individual variability in neural response to low doses of LSD.Translational psychiatry · 2024Trial
- LSD increases sleep duration the night after microdosing.Translational psychiatry · 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
- 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
- Low doses of LSD reduce broadband oscillatory power and modulate event-related potentials in healthy adults.Psychopharmacology · 2022Trial
- Repeated low doses of LSD in healthy adults: A placebo-controlled, dose-response study.Addiction biology · 2022Trial
- Psilocybin microdosing does not affect emotion-related symptoms and processing: A preregistered field and lab-based study.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2022Trial
- A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Single-Ascending-Dose Study to Identify a Subperceptual Dose of Psilocybin in Healthy Adults.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Psychedelic Safety and Clinical Outcomes Across Exposure Patterns: A Structured Narrative Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Naturally Derived Psilocybin for Therapeutic Use: A Six-Criterion Framework for Evidence, Safety, and Benefit-Risk Considerations in Policy and Clinical Development.Biomolecules · 2026Review
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microdosing is the practice of regularly using low doses of psychedelic drugs. Anecdotal reports suggest that microdosing enhances well-being and cognition; however, such accounts are potentially biased by the placebo effect. This study used a 'self-blinding' citizen science initiative, where participants were given online instructions on how to incorporate placebo control into their microdosing routine without clinical supervision. The study was completed by 191 participants, making it the largest placebo-controlled trial on psychedelics to-date. All psychological outcomes improved significantly from baseline to after the 4 weeks long dose period for the microdose group; however, the placebo group also improved and no significant between-groups differences were observed. Acute (emotional state, drug intensity, mood, energy, and creativity) and post-acute (anxiety) scales showed small, but significant microdose vs. placebo differences; however, these results can be explained by participants breaking blind. The findings suggest that anecdotal benefits of microdosing can be explained by the placebo effect.
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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.