Trial reportBiological psychiatry2019
Acute Subjective and Behavioral Effects of Microdoses of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in Healthy Human Volunteers.
Trial report in Biological psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 88 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Mood Effects of Serotonin Agonists: Depression
Drug Effects on Mood and Behavior - Expectancy
Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 171 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and Safety of Psychedelic Microdosing on Psychological Outcomes in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.CNS drugs · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of LSD, DMT and psilocybin on cognitive and psychological functions: A systematic review of the literature.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Predictors of therapeutic response to psychedelic-assisted therapy: A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Anxiety and Affective Symptoms Related to the Use of Classic Psychedelics: A Systematic Review.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026Pooled it
- Cognitive functioning associated with acute and subacute effects of classic psychedelics and MDMA - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy of psilocybin for treating symptoms of depression: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- Keeping the promise: a critique of the current state of microdosing research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- The effects of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) on the Positive Valence Systems: A Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)-Informed Systematic Review.CNS drugs · 2023Pooled it
- Dose-response relationships of LSD-induced subjective experiences in humans.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Classic serotonergic psychedelics for mood and depressive symptoms: a meta-analysis of mood disorder patients and healthy participants.Psychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Post-acute psychological effects of classical serotonergic psychedelics: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Absolute Oral Bioavailability and Bioequivalence of LSD Base and Tartrate in a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2025Trial
- Safety and Efficacy of Repeated Low-Dose LSD for ADHD Treatment in Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Multimodal creativity assessments following acute and sustained microdosing of lysergic acid diethylamide.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Inter-individual variability in neural response to low doses of LSD.Translational psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Neural complexity is increased after low doses of LSD, but not moderate to high doses of oral THC or methamphetamine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- LSD increases sleep duration the night after microdosing.Translational psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Greater subjective effects of a low dose of LSD in participants with depressed mood.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Low doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) increase reward-related brain activity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Microdosing with psilocybin mushrooms: a double-blind placebo-controlled study.Translational psychiatry · 2022Trial
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNumerous anecdotal reports suggest that repeated use of very low doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), known as microdosing, improves mood and cognitive function. These effects are consistent both with the known actions of LSD on serotonin receptors and with limited evidence that higher doses of LSD (100-200 μg) positively bias emotion processing. Yet, the effects of such subthreshold doses of LSD have not been tested in a controlled laboratory setting. As a first step, we examined the effects of single very low doses of LSD (0-26 μg) on mood and behavior in healthy volunteers under double-blind conditions.
methodsHealthy young adults (N = 20) attended 4 laboratory sessions during which they received 0 (placebo), 6.5, 13, or 26 μg of LSD in randomized order at 1-week intervals. During expected peak drug effect, they completed mood questionnaires and behavioral tasks assessing emotion processing and cognition. Cardiovascular measures and body temperature were also assessed.
resultsLSD produced dose-related subjective effects across the 3 doses (6.5, 13, and 26 μg). At the highest dose, the drug also increased ratings of vigor and slightly decreased positivity ratings of images with positive emotional content. Other mood measures, cognition, and physiological measures were unaffected.
conclusionsSingle microdoses of LSD produced orderly dose-related subjective effects in healthy volunteers. These findings indicate that a threshold dose of 13 μg of LSD might be used safely in an investigation of repeated administrations. It remains to be determined whether the drug improves mood or cognition in individuals with symptoms of depression.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.