Salience, Sensemaking, and Setting in Psilocybin Microdosing: Methodological Lessons and Preliminary Findings of a Mixed Method Qualitative Study
OpenAlex – March 20, 2024
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Momentary experiences of psilocybin microdosing often contradict retrospective accounts, revealing a complex psychological landscape. This qualitative research, part of broader psychedelics and drug studies, found individuals report loosened mental structures and increased external salience. Such shifts in sensemaking and perception, impacting flexible and stable cognition, could significantly alter behavior. Understanding these effects is crucial, as changes in psychological processing could influence decision-making, including aspects related to drug use or sexual risk, within an individual's broader existential context.
Abstract
There are profound methodological challenges facing microdosing research. One way we can address some of these methodological issues is by understanding how psilocybin microdosing fits in the broader existential context of people’s lives. We recruited participants who underwent psilocybin microdosing on their own and consented to being monitored for harm mitigation purposes. We combined momentary ecological assessment and detailed retrospective interviews. Participants reported loosening of mental structures (i.e., less intense strength of thoughts, tangential stream of consciousness), increased salience of external stimuli (varyingly associated with greater interest in otherwise mundane activities, as well as sensory overload), an increase in flexible cognition, a decrease in stable cognition, and various ego-dystonic contents Highly structured environments were conducive to positive appraisal of experience and vice versa). Momentary ecological assessment and retrospective interviews yielded diametrically opposite accounts of microdosing experience. We relate our findings to stable and cognitive cognition, as well as the notion of salience. We point out the necessity for systematic mixed methods studies to better characterize the lived experience of psilocybin microdosing.