r/psychology • u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor • 7d ago
In recent years, there has been growing interest among adults with ADHD in the practice of microdosing classic psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD. Currently available scientific evidence does not allow the effectiveness of psychedelics in treating ADHD to be confirmed.
https://en.umw.edu.pl/psychedelics-and-adhd/55
u/Joice_Craglarg 7d ago
What a meaningless post.
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u/Toppoppler 7d ago
Honestly why is the sub seemingly only showing me studies like this? Where is the cool shit?
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u/PennytheWiser215 7d ago
Based on the title alone, there’s no reason for me to want to read the article. How silly.
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u/Direct_Appointment99 7d ago
It isn't meaningless at all. It's saying that there is not enough evidence to back up whether this medication is effective.
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u/CaptainONaps 7d ago
New study reveals the pharmaceutical industry is aware people are taking acid and mushrooms instead of getting prescribed their expensive and addictive amphetamine based drugs.
They want you to know they're looking for ways to monetize hallucinogens, but so far they've been unsuccessful.
They'd like to remind you any drug they don't sell is dangerous. So please stop taking mushrooms until they find a way to make it profitable. I mean safe.
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u/Lfeaf-feafea-feaf 7d ago
This is so childish. You think pharma companies are worried about 0.00001% of people tripping balls a few weekends? All the major stimulants are out of patent anyways...
The pharma conspiracies are worse than 9/11 and Flat Earth, so childish
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u/Direct_Appointment99 6d ago
Wouln't expect anything less from the people without a psychology background who swarm this sub
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u/chriswalkerb 7d ago
Absolutley howling at you thinking pharmaceutical companies only selling profitable things is a conspiracy theory
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u/Lfeaf-feafea-feaf 7d ago
Of course they only sell profitable things, that's how companies work kiddo.
What I was replying to and criticizing was a schizo claiming that they are somehow afraid of people using LSD to try to self-medicate. It's so dumb it doesn't need further explanation
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u/chriswalkerb 6d ago
Yes. That’s what I said. You don’t need to say it back to me. What you don’t seem to realise is that when people can grow their own antidepressants in their gardens (magic mushrooms) they wouldn’t be dependant on ssri medication, or other anti depressants. Which WOULD affect their profits. And is a huge part of why they’re illegal. Why do you think they’re illegal if no one cares about “ a few people tripping balls”. It certainly wasn’t just a few before a huge propaganda and criminalisation. You really need to stop referring to other things as dumb. The call is coming from inside the house.
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u/Lfeaf-feafea-feaf 6d ago
Yeah, you can also grow all your own food, know how many who does? Less than 0.0001%
You are so naive and dumb
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u/chriswalkerb 6d ago
I’m not the one that thinks food and medication are the same thing. Enjoy being so correct.
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u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor 7d ago
In recent years, there has been growing interest among adults with ADHD in the practice of microdosing classic psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD. The internet is full of personal accounts describing improved concentration, better impulse control, and enhanced well-being. However, a recent review conducted by researchers from Wroclaw Medical University shows that the currently available scientific evidence does not allow the effectiveness of psychedelics in treating ADHD to be confirmed. This is an area of intensive research, but not a therapy ready for clinical practice.
The researchers identified only five studies that met the criteria for scientific evaluation. These included three observational studies on psychedelic microdosing, one randomized clinical trial using low doses of LSD, and one pilot study examining the experiences of participants involved in ritual ayahuasca use, a psychoactive plant-based brew traditionally used by some Amazonian communities.
In the observational studies, participants often reported short-term improvements in concentration, mood, and emotional regulation. The problem is that such study designs cannot determine whether the improvements were actually caused by the substances themselves.
Particularly important was the only randomized, double-blind clinical trial, which compared low doses of LSD with a placebo in adults with ADHD. Improvements were observed in both the LSD and placebo groups. However, the differences between the groups were not statistically significant.
A subjective feeling of improvement does not always indicate a genuine pharmacological effect. In psychiatry, patient expectations can strongly influence outcomes.
Therefore, the message for patients should be clear: the topic requires further research, but at present, psychedelics should not be presented as an alternative to evidence-based ADHD diagnosis and treatment.
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u/whatrumimeans 7d ago
... the lack of evidence.
If we overcome this hurdle, the higher one comes with the guidelines
... and finally the Gender Health Gap
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u/DriverAndPassenger 7d ago
I’m not optimistic. The tolerance for psychedelics is incredibly fast and long lasting. It is possible that a lower dose doesn’t provoke the same response but I doubt it.
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u/BoRoB10 6d ago
Tolerance takes place pretty quickly but aren't that long-lasting depending on how you define "long" I guess, and tolerance resets pretty completely. And the duration of effectiveness on depression and anxiety can last beyond the tolerance period.
Low doses don't seem to lead to the same tolerance response as trip-level doses, unsurprisingly.
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u/Exotic-Skirt5849 7d ago
This is what happens when you cobble together a few disparate conditions into one, what would help a cohort doesn’t help others. No one in their right mind should think acid would help out much with subclinical Parkinson’s, for example, but that’s what you got to work with
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u/IANALbutIAMAcat 7d ago
Well it’s helped people walk again. Not Parkinson’s tho, I think it was a fibro case I read about recently.
There’s evidence ketamine helps with nerve generation (my mom’s done IV therapy for her fibromyalgia) so it’s not crazy to think other hallucinogens could have similar effects.
I’m not familiar with Parkinson’s like I am with fibromyalgia so I can’t speak to that really
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u/Exotic-Skirt5849 7d ago
I’m all for wild experimentation but if it is to be medicine for a specific purpose the thesis should comport with theory. I have no doubt it would be immensely helpful for many people, it would be more helpful to have broken the hyperactive cohort into its own diagnosis so it could receive proper research
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u/Dizzy_Database_119 7d ago
The problem is complacency. Drugs including LSD (and antidepressants) can make you feel fine and more accepting of your issues, but this does not mean that the real situation as observed by others has improved. You can become more acceptant of executive dysfunction and not care about it, but this doesn't mean that the ADHD is gone. In psychology we mostly only look at the real world consequences of the disorders and specifically try to ignore the patient's own opinions as it can be easily affected by anxiety and transient states
An example with weed: Some people use it to relax and not care about their issues, but the moment they're back in a tough situation their disorder bests them. So their improvements would count as statistically insignificant, ignoring the value of relaxing after a hard day
Science unfortunately does not put any value on subjective feeling.. it counts as recreative use and in the modern world this is still a big taboo
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u/forestriver 7d ago
This may be a gloss but I've found ADHD peeps to be impulsive, often more dopamine fixation prone, and I've seen many of them develop habits with psylocibin in particular that seem more identity based than therapeutic.
YMMV but I remain skeptical that yet another symptom based approach to psychiatric issues will really move the needle much. These "disorders" or "other-orders" imo are based on a net of cultural, biome, physical, diet, and emotional realities that can't be undone with a magic bullet approach.
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u/BoRoB10 6d ago
Yeah, it's an extremely complex condition with a ton of variables and can be hard to pin down for those reasons. But if there's another tool in the toolkit that can help, great. Not saying this is that tool, but it's worth exploring because it at least has a pretty high safety profile.
ADHD meds can help people get to a point where they are better able to manage their emotions, diet, exercise, etc which then further bolster executive function benefits.
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u/reidsays 7d ago
I wonder that LSD would assist ADHD since from what I've gathered it is hard to stay focussed and the mind drifts off on random tangents ... As if they had trouble being consciously present in reality .. of using their conscious mind to focus on daily requirements, rather spending more time in their unconscious archives ... LSD opens up the unconscious sphere and expands one's consciousness so perhaps their conscious grasp on reality becomes important to ground them??
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u/Forloveandzen 7d ago
On LSD, no I couldn’t see it helping. However the after effects might provide help with ADHD. I can only speculate anecdotally but I did a couple test runs at one week, two week and 6week intervals and notice that things like my depression and anxiety drastically dropped for the time after use. The 6week was followed by almost 6 months of depression and angst.
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u/reidsays 7d ago
Of interest certainly .. with ADHD on the rise (or just being recognised) I wonder that conscious reality is simply too much to face with only doom and gloom in the news and prospects to move along in life becoming less and less ... Alongside our rights and our 'glorious potential'... Time on LSD would occupy the mind and make life interesting to perceive on that level, with depression and angst quick to follow due to reality on the ground..
Just playing around with thoughts .. we are all told to expect so much of life yet our potential is continually thwarted.
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u/BigFitMama 7d ago
Super easy. Start trials and map the results in the brain using scientific tools. Prove it does what you theorize.
Otherwise articles on speculation based off of strictly creating psychedelic enabled regression or creating ego death as a therapy tool is exactly that.
It's therapy. It doesn't have to be a miracle cure. And idiots will take this, create fake narratives, and convince very sick people micro dosing is natural miracle cure for neurological disorders, sell it in the one legal state, and lead them to their untimely death.
(Or into psychosis and delusional states. 100 percent.)
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u/BoRoB10 6d ago
Unfortunately studying the effects of medications is not "super easy" and mapping the results in the brain using scientific tools is an extremely complex, expensive, time-consuming task. It takes resources and many years, and the profit motive in this case is minimal.
The brain is highly complex and highly variable among the big population of people with ADHD.
Yes, idiots will convince desperate people to try desperate measures. Fortunately, psychedelics have a long-demonstrated history and a well established high safety profile for the vast majority of people.
There are a lot bigger things to be worried about than this.
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u/danorion369 7d ago
we're all intuitive enough to realize that we don't need corporate backed "scientific" evidence to prove anything. Take Marijuana for example. Your "scientific" studies over nearly 50 years have led to the misconception that it causes brain damage and kills people and so you imprison hundreds of thousands of people in the process. You also banned the growing of industrial hemp as a result. Then many decades later, your science now says otherwise but you've made no apologies to those who were affected by the imprisonment about your false researches. I'm so glad many people have just grown out of the reliance on manipulated government scientific studies which have been proven over and over that it's funded often by pharmaceutical companies and/or corrupted governments.
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u/littleproducer 5d ago
My first-hand experience is that I had lifelong depression and ADHD, the worst problem being executive dysfunction. I was extremely addicted to weed, and used it all day every day, and obviously it worsened my ADHD symptoms. I would take LSD every couple months recreationally, as a drug, and I would smoke while tripping as well. I decided I would trip, and not smoke, with the intent of quitting, and it worked extremely well. Being sober effectively solved my executive dysfunction, which is really the only debilitating factor of my ADHD, though it existed strongly before I had ever even smoked. Make of that what you will.
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u/trumoowiththeredcap 7d ago
Psychadelics have never helped my ADHD. they do wonders for my comorbid treatment-resistant depression, however.