People who microdose psychedelics like LSD or magic mushrooms do so mainly for clinical reasons and to boost productivity, but often struggle with unknown optimal dosing. Outcomes vary widely, from strong endorsement to disappointment at no effect. The analysis of 118 survey responses identified four themes: reasons, practice, outcomes, and meta-commentary, which included warnings against overexcitement. The findings suggest that even low doses may provide a sense of meaning lacking in Western culture, likely through enhanced psychological flexibility and connectedness, though placebo-controlled experiments are needed to confirm.
Mystical-type experiences and insight problem solving both belong to a family of "realization experiences" where information suddenly becomes experienced as real or true. Both can be modeled using behavioral entropy and graph theory. When novel information conflicts with prior representations, the mind destabilizes its representational network, entering a state of altered salience and enhanced associations. After restructuring sensitive to environmental cues, the agent forms new beliefs or revises its entire framework. The phenomenology depends on the size and content of the updated network and environmental affordances. This shared vocabulary aims to facilitate discussion across these phenomena.