This trip might just be worth taking.
New research suggests that microdosing a popular psychedelic may provide relief for people struggling with major depressive disorder.
That’s noteworthy, since traditional antidepressants can be slow to work, cause side effects and fail to help many patients.
Across the country, around 22.5 million American adults, roughly 8.8% of those 18 and older, have at least one major depressive episode each year.
The disorder causes persistent sadness and a loss of interest in almost every part of life, affecting how people think, feel and behave — and often making work, school and relationships a struggle.
In the hunt for more effective treatments, scientists have increasingly focused on psychedelic-assisted therapy in recent years, including with drugs like LSD.
Previous research shows that very low doses — below the level needed to cause hallucinations — can give healthy people short-term boosts in mood and energy.
Curious if this could help people with major depressive disorder, researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand recruited 19 volunteers to study the effects of microdosing LSD.
Most participants were men, with an average age of 41, and 15 were already taking antidepressants when the study began.
The volunteers were asked to take 16 doses of LSD under their tongues over an eight week period. They started with 8 micrograms in a clinic, then took 6 micrograms at home, eventually working their way up to 20 micrograms.
The participants were asked to avoid potentially risky activities for six hours after dosing and to skip doses after 2 pm to prevent problems with sleep.
They used a custom smartphone app to guide them through the study, track their activities on dosing days, and record how they felt at the end of each day.
Researchers checked the participants’ depression levels using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) at the start of the study and again at 2, 4 and 6 weeks.
They also monitored overall mental health and social well-being, including anxiety, quality of life, and levels of stress and rumination.
Two to seven days after taking their last microdose, the researchers visited participants at home for a final check-in.
By the end of the eight-week period, two participants dropped out for reasons unrelated to the trial, and one withdrew due to anxiety on dosing days.
But for those who completed the study, all of the measures being tracked by researchers showed clear improvements.
At the start, the average MADRS score was 23.7. By the end of treatment, it had dropped nearly 60% to 9.6. In fact, nine participants met the criteria for remission.
“Patients in this trial experienced a pronounced, long-lasting reduction in depressive symptoms evident from two weeks after the commencement of microdosing until at least the end of the regimen,” the authors wrote.
“The reduction of symptoms continued at four weeks of treatment, which stabilized and lasted up to six months after the end of treatment.”
The study also found that anxiety scores dropped by more than 50%, while rumination — or the tendency to dwell on negative thoughts — fell by 15%.
Participants reported better quality of life across physical, psychological, social and environmental areas, suggesting they were more able to enjoy life and take interest in activities than before the microdosing began.
Notably, no serious adverse effects were reported. Headaches were the most common, occurring three times in two participants.
One participant with high baseline anxiety withdrew at the 6 microgram mark, but their symptoms resolved after leaving the study.
Researchers also performed echocardiograms, or heart ultrasounds, before and after the study in 15 participants. Four participants continued treatment for another eight weeks, and their hearts were monitored as well.
No clinically significant heart problems were found in any of the participants.
The researchers said their findings suggest that microdosing LSD may have therapeutic potential for depression.
However, they stressed that more research is needed to fully understand its effects. A larger trial is already underway to see whether LSD provides greater benefits than a placebo when self-administered at home.
