Kurterino said:

I have just read this article in The NY Times. It’s about recent studies that seem to suggest that micro dosing Psilocybin or LSD does not do anything beyond the placebo effect. Apparently there are two or three recent studies, and these are the first studies to be done scientifically ‘correct’, i.e. with half the participants receiving placebos. They say earlier, more promising studies did only examine the effects on people who knew what they were getting. Interesting for sure.
However, from what i understand, this does not impact the research on full dose therapies, which has been shown to have ‘real’ effects.

Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/well/mind/microdosing-psychelics.html?referringSource=articleShare

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Psicomvb said:

Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/well/mind/microdosing-psychelics.html?referringSource=articleShare

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Quote:

After several years of microdosing, he said the biggest change he’s experienced is a general shift in his mind set — something that’s harder for scientists to measure. “I started because I read that it helps with depression,” he said. “But as I’ve moved on, it’s helped really a lot more with mental and personal growth and outlook on life — how you want to live and your existence in the world.”

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redgreenvines said:

I do not know what they were testing or how, but everytime I micro-dose it is not placebo, the effects are real...

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Kurterino said:

redgreenvines said:

I do not know what they were testing or how, but everytime I micro-dose it is not placebo, the effects are real...

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I understand what you mean, I guess: you’re saying that you definitely feel that you get en effect. But that could be placebo, there’s no way to reliably  distinguish placebo effects, other than doing comparative studies where the subjects (and the people who interact with them) don’t know if they are taking a placebo or the real thing. It’s very very powerful, the placebo effect.
And I agree with the article, things like ‘personal growth’ are hard to measure, and can definitely be caused by placebo effect. If I said that I have become a better person because of micro dosing, how can you possibly know if that’s true, unless you’ve been a close friend for years?

So if it works for you, that’s fantastic, but it doesn’t mean that it will work for someone else as well. And I think that’s more or less what the article is saying.

Cheers

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