--- title: "New Study: Microdosing DMT Reduces Depression and Anxiety" description: "New research shows that microdosing DMT — taking it in quantities too low to cause hallucinations — could reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety." date: "2019-03-05" modified: "2019-03-05" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/microdosing-dmt-lowers-depression-anxiety" categories: - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "depression" - "mental health" - "microdosing" - "the digest" --- # New Study: Microdosing DMT Reduces Depression and Anxiety ![New research shows that dosages of the drug DMT that are too low to cause hallucinations could indeed reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.]() *\Image: GDJ/Victor Tangermann\* ## Microdosing DMT The idea of taking small doses of psychedelic drugs has gained cachet in recent years, especially in the world of tech startups, where practitioners [believe it can enhance]() creativity and fight depression. Now, new research shows that microdosing DMT — taking doses of the drug that are too low to cause hallucinations — could indeed reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, [according to *The Atlantic*]() — and though data is still scarce, the work could pave the way to new mental health treatments. ## Rats! An important caveat to the [new research](), which was published Monday in the journal *ACS Chemical Neuroscience*: its subjects were rats, not people. But David Olson, a chemist and neuroscientist at the University of California at Davis, thinks his team's study is important nonetheless because it provides some of the first evidence that there are benefits to taking psychedelic drugs below a dosage threshold that would cause you to, well, trip. "I really wanted to answer the question as to whether or not the hallucinogenic effects of these compounds were necessary for the therapeutic effects," he told *The Atlantic*. ## Cytotoxic Effects Still, before you start microdosing DMT at work, it's probably worth waiting for more data. In some rats, Olson's team found, the DMT appeared to have "cytotoxic effects" that killed brain cells. At the very least, more research is needed. "There’s that saying," Olson told *The Atlantic*, "that the difference between a medicine and a poison is the dose." **READ MORE:** [A New Chapter in the Science of Psychedelic Microdosing]() \[*The Atlantic*\] **More on microdosing:** *[First Rigorous Study: Microdosing Fights Depression, Improves Focus]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()