By MycoMeditations

While thousands of people microdose on psychedelics every day and many rave about the benefits, scientists are clamoring to back up the excitement with evidence.

Anecdotally, microdosing enhances creativity, productivity, focus, a sense of wellbeing, improved memory, vitality. The list goes on.

Take the case of National Hockey League player Daniel Carcillo, who retired from the sport at age 30 due to traumatic brain injury from repeat concussions, struggled with 15 crippling symptoms in various combinations on any given day, including depression, headaches, insomnia and suicidal thoughts. After spending a fortune on various treatments over the past three-and-a-half years, Carcillo took a large dose of psilocybin six months ago and then began microdosing every three days on 100 milligrams (along with a cocktail of CBD and other medicinal, non-psychedelic mushrooms). Recently, his EEG came back clear for the first time. “It’s saved my life,” he says. “I’m more creative, attentive, a better father, husband and friend. My anxiety and depression is so much better. I’ve won two Stanley Cups, but right now I feel the best I’ve ever felt in my life,” he says.

Another microdoser, a 61-one-year-old entreprenuer from Cape Town, South Africa, echoes many others when she says microdosing helps her to focus, be more creative and more empathic in her relationships with friends and colleagues. “The world just looks more beautiful,” she says. “In a subtle way, microdosing puts you back into that same space as a hero’s dose does but in a less hectic way. It allows you to access the benefits but still carry on with your day as usual.”

But how do scientists make sense of personal accounts like these?

While the findings in studies involving larger doses of psilocybin or LSD have been unequivocally positive, those on microdosing involve several challenges, including the lack of clarity around the basics, such as what constitutes a microdose, how frequently it should be taken and under what circumstances, as well as the fact that psychedelics are still illegal in most countries. It is now generally agreed that microdosing involves a very small dose (no more than one tenth of a gram of psilocybin) that doesn’t interfere with a person’s normal behavior; that it is used many times (microdosing expert James Fadiman recommends every third day); that it is taken to improve well-being and cognitive and emotional functioning.

Only a few studies have been concluded so far, including two small empirical studies, and the findings are more uncertain and nuanced than the anecdotal evidence would have us believe.