“It Fueled the Fire to Who I Am Now”: Exploring Motivations for Microdosing Psychedelics

Microdosing—taking tiny amounts of LSD or psilocybin mushrooms without experiencing euphoria—has become a fast-growing trend in illicit substance use, driven by perceived self-enhancing and therapeutic benefits such as reducing anxiety, depression, and stress. Interviews with active microdosers reveal motivations ranging from improving general wellbeing to helping abstain from other substances participants consider more harmful. This distinguishes microdosing sharply from traditional recreational drug use.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The emergence of microdosing introduced a novel approach to consuming classic psychedelic substances, such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and psilocybin mushrooms, in ways previously unconventional. Whereas traditional illicit substance use often seeks euphoric experiences, microdosing deliberately avoids such effects in favor of perceived self-enhancing benefits. Increasingly common in contemporary society, microdosing has shown potential therapeutic value in alleviating conditions such as anxiety, depression, and stress. The current study’s findings help explain why microdosing has become one of the fastest-growing trends in illicit substance use, while also distinguishing it sharply from other forms of such use. Interviews with those who actively microdose psychedelics provide key insights as to the various motivations for microdosing psychedelics that range from bettering one’s general wellbeing to assisting in the abstinence of other harmful substances characterized to be “worse” by participants.