Mental Health Benefits of Magic Mushroom Microdose

Champignons magiques microdosage is one of several drugs that have recently been attracting renewed interest in research and practice. These “magic mushrooms” contain the psychoactive tryptamines psilocin and psilocin, both of which are 5-HT2A agonists. In high doses, these substances can induce psychedelic effects such as altered consciousness. However, in lower doses, they are not considered hallucinogenic. For this reason, a growing body of research is finding that micro-dosing psilocybin may provide unique mental health benefits.

Unlike the large, standardized, placebo-controlled trials of full-dose psychedelics, much of the existing research on magic mushroom microdose is based on anecdotes and case studies and has not been subject to independent replication. This makes it particularly difficult to evaluate the strength of the current findings.

Balancing Act: Harnessing the Power of Microdosing for Mental Wellness

A recent study aimed to address this limitation by engaging participants in self-blinding citizen science and investigating the impact of microdoses on mood and mental health over a 30-day follow-up period. The results found that, compared to controls, microdoses reported positive changes in mood and mental well-being. However, it is possible that these improvements were due to the participants’ expectations about what psilocybin might do, rather than a direct effect of the drug itself.

To examine this possibility, supplemental analyses were conducted that controlled for moderating effects of Age and Mental Health Concerns. These analyses did not find evidence for either of these influences, suggesting that the observed effects were at least partly due to participants’ expectations about what psilocybin would do.