Microdosing, or taking small doses of psychedelics, could help you get rid of your gloomy thoughts and increase your concentration. Miracle cure or don’t try this at home?

One tiny bite of a magical truffle, and gone are your distraction, your dark thoughts, your self-critical voice. Evelien (36) says it is possible. It’s called microdosing or microdosing, and she’s been trying it herself for a few months.

Silicon Valley phenomenon
The phenomenon came over from Silicon Valley a few years ago, where eating a mouse bit of psychedelics is seen as a life hack for the workplace. A tenth of a normal dose of LSD, reishi or magic mushrooms is said to stimulate creativity and increase concentration and productivity, without the hallucinations and disorientation of a full serving. Evelien came out of a gloomy period and found it difficult to keep her attention on her work; each time her thoughts were drawn along, she looked for distraction, she reached for her phone to numb the unrest.

Her work as a healthcare consultant began to suffer. And yes, she was already meditating, and she got up early, trying in all sorts of ways to regain the calm in her head, without the result she hoped for. “I had the feeling that everything became lighter because of the microdosing. I could concentrate better, was more present in the moment. And because I could keep my focus on what I was doing, the dark thoughts gradually faded into the background.” Every now and then, when her days were extra busy or she had not slept well, things turned out a little differently. out than intended. “Then I would be talking to someone and it was like they had glitter all over their face.”

People regularly call the Drugs Infolijn with questions about microdosing, says Leonie Kamps of the Trimbos Institute, national knowledge institute for mental health, mental resilience and addiction. “They are curious whether it can improve their productivity and whether it can alleviate psychological complaints such as depression. They also have questions about what the correct dosage is.’ She cannot give the callers an answer to those questions, because it has not yet been investigated. “If you want to try it, you’re kind of your own guinea pig.” As with all drugs, there are risks to using psychedelics, even in small doses: they can trigger psychiatric problems. Its use is especially not recommended in people with, for example, schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder, or who have psychotic complaints in the family. The chance of a bad trip, psychosis or permanent anxiety symptoms is greater. Even if you have an anxiety disorder, your feelings of anxiety can increase.

Try it bunny
At the beginning of last year, I also became my own guinea pig. A slumbering gloom was more and more emphatically present. I slept less, it took me a lot of effort to go outside. The work I love so much became an impossible task due to panic attacks that hit me out of nowhere and that I couldn’t explain. Perhaps you should meditate, said the doctor, have you ever tried that? Running, looking for a new hobby, baking a loaf of bread? Waiting patiently for the storm to pass is all I could do, and antidepressants suggest them too, but I don’t want them – I’ve used them before, and they didn’t do much for me.

Why I hardly dare to go to the supermarket anymore, but think it is a good idea to experiment with psychedelics whose therapeutic effect has hardly been proven, is a mystery to me until now. Yet one morning I find myself in a smart shop among the dead tourists and buy a box of truffles. First dry for a few days, then grind into powder, I read online. I find an extensive step-by-step plan for building the ultimate drying construction, with fans, an airtight box, a moisture absorber and kitchen paper.