Trial reportJournal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)2022
Psilocybin microdosing does not affect emotion-related symptoms and processing: A preregistered field and lab-based study.
Trial report in Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
36 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and Safety of Psychedelic Microdosing on Psychological Outcomes in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.CNS drugs · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of LSD, DMT and psilocybin on cognitive and psychological functions: A systematic review of the literature.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- The subtle science: a systematic review of psilocybin magic mushroom and truffle microdosing.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Incremental efficacy systematic review and meta-analysis of psilocybin-for-depression RCTs.Psychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Acute effects of psilocybin on attention and executive functioning in healthy volunteers: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of psilocybin on cognitive function: A systematic review.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 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
- 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
- Prevalence and Reasons for Microdosing Cannabis, Psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA Among U.S. Adults.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Psychedelic Safety and Clinical Outcomes Across Exposure Patterns: A Structured Narrative Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A contemporary exploration of motivations and practices of psychedelic use among emerging adult cannabis users in the United States: A qualitative analysis.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- Naturally Derived Psilocybin for Therapeutic Use: A Six-Criterion Framework for Evidence, Safety, and Benefit-Risk Considerations in Policy and Clinical Development.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Effects of repeated low-dose LSD on neuropsychological functioning in adults with ADHD: a randomized placebo-controlled study.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Electrocorticographic Changes and Neuronal Maturation in the Antidepressant-like and Anxiolytic Effects of Micro- or Macrodosing ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Disentangling the acute subjective effects of classic psychedelics from their enduring therapeutic properties.Psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Review
- Psilocybin: From Psychiatric Pariah to Perceived Panacea.The American journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Mushrooms, Microdosing, and Mental Illness: The Effect of Psilocybin on Neurotransmitters, Neuroinflammation, and Neuroplasticity.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMicrodoses of psychedelics (i.e. a sub-hallucinogenic dose taken every third day) can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress according to anecdotal reports and observational studies. Research with medium to high doses of psilocybin points towards potential underlying mechanisms, including the modulation of emotion and interoceptive processing.
aimsIn this preregistered study, we investigated whether psilocybin microdoses alter self-reported interoceptive awareness and whether repeated microdosing over 3 weeks modulates emotion processing and reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.
methodsWe used a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject crossover design. Participants completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Questionnaire 1½ h after self-administering their second dose (or placebo), and the emotional go/no-go task and the shortened Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 1½ h after self-administering their seventh dose.
resultsOur confirmatory analyses revealed that psilocybin microdosing did not affect emotion processing or symptoms of anxiety and depression compared with placebo. Our exploratory analyses revealed that psilocybin microdosing did not affect self-reported interoceptive awareness, that symptoms of depression and stress were significantly reduced in the first block compared with baseline, that participants broke blind in the second block and that there was no effect of expectations. Further research in a substance-naïve population with clinical range anxiety and depressive symptoms is needed to substantiate the potential beneficial effects of microdosing.
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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.