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Psychedelic Microdosing, Mindfulness, and Anxiety: A Cross-Sectional Mediation Study

Vincent Hartong, Arnold A P Van Emmerik

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 12, 2022 DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2022.2080616 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed
Sample size 497
Population Adults who completed anonymous online questionnaires, divided into current microdosers, former microdosers, and microdosing-naïve controls
Topics Anxiety Meditation Microdosing
Keywords Clinical psychology Mediation Association psychology Trait anxiety Mood Psychotherapist
Citations 11
Key findings Current and former microdosers reported lower trait anxiety than controls, but this association became non-significant when participants with previous macrodose experience were excluded.

Abstract

While anecdotal reports claim that psychedelic microdosing reduces anxiety and mood symptoms, evidence supporting these claims is scarce. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between microdosing and trait anxiety. Furthermore, it was investigated if trait mindfulness mediated this association. Participants completed anonymous online questionnaires and were divided into three groups: current microdosers (n = 186), former microdosers (n = 77) and microdosing-naïve controls (n = 234). Trait anxiety and trait mindfulness were measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Trait subscale (STAI-T) and the 15-item Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15) respectively. Current and former microdosers reported lower STAI-T scores compared to microdosing-naïve controls. Furthermore, associations of current and former microdosing with trait anxiety were mediated by trait mindfulness, with small effects of FFMQ-15 Total, Non-judging and Non-reactivity scores. However, in an exploratory analysis, all associations between microdosing and STAI-T scores became non-significant when participants with previous macrodose experience (n = 386) were excluded. Our findings suggest that RCTs are warranted to test causal hypotheses concerning the effects of microdosing and the role of trait mindfulness in the effects of microdosing, while controlling for previous macrodose experience.

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on microdosing, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Motives and Side-Effects of Microdosing With Psychedelics Among Users Psychedelic users with microdosing experience 2019 Cross-sectional survey n = 1,116
Microdosing psychedelics: Motivations, subjective effects and harm reduction People aged 16 years or older who had used psychedelics and could comprehend written... 2019 Cross-sectional survey n = 525
Psychedelic Microdosing: Prevalence and Subjective Effects Anonymous online survey respondents 2020 Cross-sectional survey n = 2,347
Self-Rated Effectiveness of Microdosing With Psychedelics for Mental and Physical Health Problems Among Microdosers Adults 18 or older diagnosed with at least one mental or physiological disorder by a... 2019 Cross-sectional survey n = 410
Microdosing psychedelics: Demographics, practices, and psychiatric comorbidities Adults recruited primarily from the online forum Reddit 2020 Cross-sectional survey n = 909

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Anxiety Meditation Microdosing