Motivation-based subtypes of psilocybin microdosers

Recent years have witnessed a rise in microdosing psilocybin. Individuals who engage in this practice report diverse motivations for use which suggests heterogeneity among microdosers. However, research to date has taken a monolithic approach to the examination of microdosers which may overlook potentially important differences. To address this limitation, we aimed to identify and elucidate motivation-based subtypes using a large naturalistic sample of psilocybin microdosers. We used latent class analysis to identify motivation-based subtypes among 4,415 adults who reported microdosing psilocybin. We compared subtypes cross-sectionally using ANOVA and chi-square tests to examine current mental health status, psychosocial functioning, and microdosing practices. Three distinct subtypes of psilocybin microdosers emerged from the data: Mental Health Focused (n = 2059), Well-Being Focused (n = 1136), and Creativity and Learning Focused (n = 1220). We identified medium-to-large between group differences in depression, anxiety, and stress across the subtypes, medium sized differences in affect and satisfaction with life, and small-to-medium differences in self-reported mental health diagnoses and use of psychiatric medication (all p