Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or severe ADHD symptoms who were microdosed with psychedelics reported improved memory after four weeks. Frontiers in psychiatry. The findings highlight the importance of conducting future placebo-controlled studies to ensure that these observed changes can be replicated in a controlled experimental setting.
ADHD affects millions of adults worldwide, characterized by symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Many individuals with ADHD have turned to microdosing psychedelics to self-medicate their symptoms and improve their daily functioning. Recent studies have explored how microdosing can alter personality traits and alertness in the general population, but its effects on individuals with ADHD remain largely unknown.
Mindfulness, defined as the ability to be present, pay attention to present experience, and respond nonjudgmentally to thoughts and feelings, is associated with personality traits such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness. Previous studies have shown that individuals with ADHD have lower cognitive scores and behavioral differences compared to those without ADHD. However, it is unclear how microdosing affects these behaviors in individuals with ADHD.
To address this knowledge gap, a recent study was conducted to examine the effects of microdosing and its effects on personality traits in adults with ADHD or severe ADHD symptoms. The study, part of a larger research effort, followed a prospective nature design. Adults with ADHD or severe ADHD-like symptoms who were willing to start microdosing psychedelics were recruited for the study.
“We have previously shown that individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) practice low-frequency self-medication, commonly known as microdosing, of psychedelic substances. This approach has been shown to improve ADHD symptoms and overall well-being,” said study author Eline CHM Haijen ( A.)@ehaijen), a PhD candidate in Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University.
“Individuals diagnosed with ADHD exhibit low levels of attentional deficits in allocating and sustaining attention in the moment and a tendency to be inattentive and reactive to emerging thoughts and feelings. In addition, their personality structure differs from non-ADHD individuals in terms of neuroticism (ie, negative affect and emotional instability) and Decreased conscientiousness (ie, efficient and organized).
“While studies before microdosing have examined changes in cognitive and personality traits after microdosing, these studies have mostly included samples from the general population. We were interested in how these traits change after microdosing in adults with ADHD.
The researchers collected data at four time points: baseline, 2 weeks after starting microdosing, 4 weeks after starting, and daily surveys. They recruited participants online, provided information about the study and obtained informed consent. There were 233 participants at baseline, 66 participants at the 2-week time point, and 44 participants at the 4-week time point. Most participants reported microdosing using psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
Participants will complete a variety of psychological assessments, including the Five Face Personality Questionnaire (FFMQ-15) for personality and the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10) for personality traits. They also reported their previous experience with psychedelics and mindfulness practices, any comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, and ADHD medication use.
After 2 and 4 weeks of microdosing, participants had increased levels of mindfulness compared to baseline. In particular, they showed improvements in aspects such as observation, description, working with awareness, non-judgment of internal experiences, and non-reaction to internal experiences.
“After four weeks of microdosing, we found improvements in all aspects of thinking,” explained Hygen. “However, when controlling for recent mindfulness/meditation experience, only the expressive and nonjudgmental aspects of inner experience were elevated. Thus, it appears that these aspects are particularly sensitive to change after microdosing.
Mental expression refers to the ability to express one’s experiences verbally or verbally or mentally. Nonjudgment of inner experience, on the other hand, is a core aspect of mindfulness that involves accepting and attending to judgments and evaluations without attaching thoughts, feelings, and emotions to them. It means not classifying the experiences as good or bad, right or wrong.
“Their mean cognitive scores at the 4-week time point are comparable to cognitive scores of general population samples,” Haijen said.
The researchers also found that neuroticism, a personality trait often associated with emotional instability, decreased after 4 weeks of microdosing. Consciousness and intelligence increased after 4 weeks and 2 weeks, respectively, but these effects were not statistically significant when looking at multiple comparisons. Communication and transparency remained unchanged.
“The personality trait neuroticism was significantly reduced after four weeks of microdosing compared to baseline,” Hygen told PsyPost. However, this mean neuroticism score was still higher than the mean neuroticism levels of the general population sample. Therefore, it seems that cognitive and behavioral characteristics change, in positive directions, after four weeks of microdosing in adults with ADHD. However, controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings.
But the study had some limitations, such as a high dropout rate and potential bias due to participants who did not have a pleasant microdosing experience. Additionally, controlled studies in the laboratory are needed to ensure consistency in the ingredients and dosages used. Future research could examine whether these microdosing-induced effects on cognitive and personality traits are long-lasting by conducting follow-up measurements several months later.
“This study is a naturalistic study, which means that we measured the participants over time without using variables such as substances and doses used for microdosing during the study,” said Haijen. “In an uncontrolled laboratory study, drug and drug doses were confirmed to be the same. Also, no control group was included, so we cannot say if this effect was due to microdosing alone, or if other factors, such as placebo- or waiting effects, were the main force behind the changes we observed. So much And with the hope that controlled studies will follow, this study should be seen as a first step in this research direction.
“Due to naturalistic studies like the current one, we get more information about microdosing practices that occur in society,” added Hygen. “For example, the dosages that people use for microdosing seem to vary greatly. They seem to experiment with multiple doses and dosing regimens, eventually choosing a regimen that works best for them. This measurement of dosing habits is challenging to capture in controlled laboratory-based studies, although it may be a useful tool for measuring microdosing effects.
The study “Behavioral thinking and personality traits in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective studyWritten by Eline CHM Haijen, Petra PM Hurks and Kim PC Kuypers.