Salience, Sensemaking, and Setting in Psilocybin Microdosing: Methodological Lessons and Preliminary Findings of a Mixed Method Qualitative Study

Psilocybin microdosing loosens mental structures, making thoughts less intense and thinking more flexible but less stable, while increasing the salience of external stimuli—sometimes making mundane activities more interesting, sometimes causing sensory overload. The experience is appraised more positively in highly structured environments. Momentary ecological assessments and retrospective interviews gave completely opposite accounts of the experience, highlighting profound methodological challenges in microdosing research. The findings relate to stable versus flexible cognition and the concept of salience, underscoring the need for systematic mixed-methods studies to better characterize the lived experience of psilocybin microdosing.

Study at a glance

Abstract

There are profound methodological challenges facing microdosing research. One way we can address some of these methodological issues is by understanding how psilocybin microdosing fits in the broader existential context of people’s lives. We recruited participants who underwent psilocybin microdosing on their own and consented to being monitored for harm mitigation purposes. We combined momentary ecological assessment and detailed retrospective interviews. Participants reported loosening of mental structures (i.e., less intense strength of thoughts, tangential stream of consciousness), increased salience of external stimuli (varyingly associated with greater interest in otherwise mundane activities, as well as sensory overload), an increase in flexible cognition, a decrease in stable cognition, and various ego-dystonic contents Highly structured environments were conducive to positive appraisal of experience and vice versa). Momentary ecological assessment and retrospective interviews yielded diametrically opposite accounts of microdosing experience. We relate our findings to stable and cognitive cognition, as well as the notion of salience. We point out the necessity for systematic mixed methods studies to better characterize the lived experience of psilocybin microdosing.