Microdosing against Depression

A couple of months ago I was approached by Daphne who wanted to explore the use of microdosing* to try and combat her depression. She has a family history of depression and she was at her wits end. Her therapist had discussed the option of antidepressants, but Daphne, who read a lot about the use of microdosing against depression, wanted to try that first (with the approval of her therapist). That’s when she connected with me. Due to the sense of hopelessness she really did not want to wait any longer, so we decided to run a private microdosing program for her so she could start immediately. I would guide her in the use of the microdosing and she would still be under supervision of her therapist.

finding your sweet spot

As always it took a little while to find her Sweet Spot (the optimum dose which is different for each individual), but after 1,5 week, Daphne reported that she experienced less hopelessness and less of a sense of the uselessness of life and she started feeling a little more curiosity about what was to come. Another two weeks later Daphne said that she experienced a sense of flow, she was looking forward to do things and felt less heavy. There was a lot of liveliness and enthusiasm in her messages and I warned her that being on such a up flow could result in a down fall and indeed a little later, she experienced a small breakdown. She was prepared and took it a little slower and things quickly balanced out again.

There were still days where she noticed less flow, but it wasn’t so impactful anymore. She dared to trust that there would be a next day where she would feel better.

life energy

After 8 weeks, I spoke with Daphne via Zoom and I noticed that her energy had completely changed from the first zoom call we had. I could feel and see her life energy. She shared how she still recognised a sense of depression in her core, but she no longer added layers of negative thoughts and fear on top of it. Therefore her mind no longer looped around trying to resolve these feelings or get away from it. Which made it a lot more bearable.

awareness

This is exactly what we strive for in our MicroDosing Programmes; to create a level of awareness that also helps you when you stop taking microdoses of psychedelics. Daphne did not ‘just’ experience more life energy when taking microdosing, but she actually has a new way of relating to her depression.

This is how Daphne describes her experience:

Mirjam guided me very pleasantly with my first microdosing. She gave me a sense of safety and warmth and understood the things I encountered. My wish was to experience more life energy / joy and this has certainly been achieved! I feel more openness, attention to the small things in life and this makes me live more in the moment. I don't get stuck in negative thoughts as quickly and I feel more content and can accept certain "negative" things better. I was very pleased to be able to share my experiences with Mirjam during these 8 weeks and to receive the right questions and guidance from her. She paid a lot of attention to me, has a good empathy and extensive knowledge and experience! I'm super grateful to her for this and I'm already looking forward to the next one :)

do you want to try it?

Do you want to give microdosing a try? We are running Microdosing programs since two years. We normally do this in an online group setting with people who want to experience the power of psychedelics in a controlled manner with the aim of increased consciousness. If you are interested in joining us, feel free to reach out to me or Xavier for more information or simply sign up for an intake or our newsletter here.

read more

All in all, the renaissance of psychedelics is hard to miss. Everywhere I look; newspapers, magazines, Netflix, you will find articles and documentaries about the use and benefits of psychedelics. For some good historical and useful information on psychedelics I can recommend the documentary How To Change Your Mind on Netflix from Michael Pollan!

*Microdosing refers to taking minuscule doses of a psychedelic substance (e.g. magic truffles with the working psychedelic substance psilocybin) over a period of 8 weeks (twice a week). The aim of microdosing is to connect more with yourself, people experience e.g. a sense of flow, contentment, focus. In my experience microdosing helps you to disentangle from your mind and to be more in the observer role, which is essentially a sort of mindfulness.