A new study published in the journal of Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs Online shows that microdosing can be associated with an increased sense of authenticity.
This survey study followed a group of people microdosing for one month (a relatively small group of 18 participants) — and focused on feeling of “authenticity”, which they propose is highly related to a sense of well-being.
Authenticity: To know yourself and to act according to that knowledge constitute the basis for expressing oneself authentically. The importance of authenticity for health and wellbeing is underscored by the variety of positive outcomes associated with it, such as hedonic and eudaimonic well being, engagement, mindfulness and emotional intelligence. Conversely, inauthenticity has been linked to negative affect and lower feelings of autonomy. Therefore, there is little doubt that the pursuit of authentic expression is central to living a fulfilling life.
Here are some details from the study (quoted from the paper):
Background and aim: In the present study, we focus on the relationship between state authenticity – the experience of being true to oneself in a particular moment – and microdosing – a practice that implies repeatedly ingesting very small doses of psychedelics that do not reach the threshold for perceptual alterations. We propose that microdosing could increase state authenticity through influencing people’s mood and the number and satisfaction with daily activities.
Methods:
We used self-assessments of state authenticity collected from 18 microdosers in the Netherlands across the period of 1 month for a total of 192 observations.
Results: We found that on the microdosing day and the day thereafter, state authenticity was significantly higher. Furthermore, the number of activities and the satisfaction with them were higher on the day when participants microdosed, while the following day only the number of activities was higher. Both the number or activities and the satisfaction with them were positively related to state authenticity.
Although this was a small study and only lasted 30 days, it did show that microdosing was related to higher levels of authenticity, with participants reporting higher levels of satisfaction with cooking, work, spending time with family and friends, sex, and engaging in health-related activities such as exercise, sauna, meditation, and yoga.
