Comment by BobbyJo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by BobbyJo | Hacker News Reader

I find the title a little confusing. In the article it states:

> The researchers found that the higher dose of LSD (26 μg) produced a small decrease in false alarm rates for recognizing fearful emotions and a small decrease in feelings of social rejection. The higher dose of LSD also produced heightened feelings of vigor and some participants who received the higher dose reported feeling a modest “high” during the drug sessions.

Then the following paragraph: > Under these limited conditions, the effects did not differ from placebo.

If the study was placebo controlled, doesn't the first paragraph contradict the second?

I'd also like to point out 1) that modest decreases in negative emotions (implied by the first paragraph) over a period of time can cumulatively alter one's perception of life for the better pretty significantly and 2) most microdosing protocols use 25ug, which is the high end of dosing for this study.

The second paragraph means that the placebo group experienced similar effects as those in the 26μg group. So the 26μg group could well just be placebo anyway.

I wonder if those groups were together? Or separate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_high

They are likely testing individuals

Or it is just a lack of power to determine if the difference is considered significant. A study like this provides an estimate of the effect size of treatment. If the effect is modestly positive it will often be stated to be statistically insignificantly different from no effect or placebo effect.

These types of studies are designed to generate certain headlines rather than provide scientific value. There has been a ton of such "studies" in the past done for big pharma / political use, for instance to scare chronic pain patients off of medical cannabis or to ensure people don't look for other options and keep being hooked on what big pharma is pushing. There is no interest in cures, but repeat customers.

That’s ad hominem - you’re criticising author and their percieved intentions instead of the studty design or execution.

I do not consider 26 ug a 'microdose'

Pretty sure that's around the threshold dose, so you're right.

Note that people often severely overestimate the dosage of acid. What a layman describes as 26ug is very likely to be around half of that.

What’s also interesting is that at the end they mention this was only a 2 week study. I don’t know how microdosing is supposed to be done but Ive always imagined it less frequently, like once a week, and over a longer period of time.

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