Microdosing and Coffee Have Similar Effects Against Depression

"Hanka noted that, in the trial, participants who microdosed LSD showed "elevations in mood, energy, feelings of social connectivity, creativity, enhanced wellbeing, reduced irritability and anger." Where things didn't measure up to the company's expectations came in one very specific department: microdosing, he wrote, "is not more effective than placebo in treating Major Depressive Disorder.""

"What does coffee have to do with this? Caffeine is what was used as a placebo for the study - meaning that, as Semley observed, the pills used as placebos there will have about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Hanka was bearish on the study's conclusions, telling WIRED that it represents "a nail in the coffin of using microdosing to treat clinical depression." Paradoxically, it might also give more people a valid reason to reach for their morning (or afternoon) coffee."

A randomized placebo-controlled trial evaluated microdosing LSD and reported participant-reported increases in mood, energy, social connectivity, creativity, overall wellbeing, and reductions in irritability and anger. The trial concluded that microdosing was not more effective than placebo for treating Major Depressive Disorder. Caffeine served as the placebo, with pills containing roughly the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. The results were shared outside of peer-reviewed publication and were described by organizers as highly rigorous. Similar mood benefits from a caffeine placebo complicate assessments of clinical efficacy for microdosing.

Read at InsideHook