Introduction
It’s no secret that creativity is a part of the human experience. Everything from art, to writing, to architecture, to education, to language is all grounded in our ability to be creative. That makes creativity the most powerful force shaping our world today.
Enter psilocybin mushrooms. A claim across the sciences and practitioners that remains constant is that when mushrooms are ingested in low to moderate amounts, creativity seems to be greatly enhanced in the process.
The reason for this is that psilocybin helps to create more ‘cross-talk’ between areas of the brain that don’t normally communicate directly – meaning new perspectives can be attained that otherwise might not have been possible before.
How Microdosing Effects Creativity
A recent 2018 study, led by Luisa Prochazkova of Leiden University, found the following to be true about taking psilocybin for creativity, as she explains below.
Note: Truffles and cubensis both have psychoactive properties and can be used interchangeably.
“Taken together, our results suggest that consuming a microdose of truffles allowed participants to create more out-of-the-box alternative solutions for a problem, thus providing preliminary support for the assumption that microdosing improves divergent thinking,”
With this fundamental data on microdosing, in what ways can this increase in creativity be applied?
Turns out it can be helpful almost anywhere, at any time. Many people, including Steve Jobs, have openly admitted to using psychedelics as a way to boost their creativity in coming up with new ideas, new designs, and new business concepts. Artists, architects, and even musicians like Pink Floyd also accredit psychedelics to help them create their works and pieces of music.
With many big names like these in the world of using psychedelics for creativity, given how successful they are, what could this mean for your creativity?
For tips on how to microdose, if you’re unfamiliar, go back and read our past post about Integrating Microdosing.
Cautions on Microdosing Protocols
For all the benefits, we also have to look at the positive downsides to microdosing or macrodosing a psychedelic like psilocybin mushrooms. While generally harmless, there is always a risk of abuse or poor outcomes to using a drug to change brain function. Although very rare, some people just don’t respond well, or at all to psilocybin dosing in any amount as this case study led by Daniel Mograbi outlines for higher dose users having bad trips or adverse effects.
There is less data related to microdosing leading to bad outcomes, but that’s not to say these instances don’t occur for a subset of the population.
Summary and Next Steps
A key recommendation we can leave you with is to try a protocol for yourself and track how you respond. The odds of having a negative outcome are very low, but should anything feel off, we recommend either lowering your dosages or stopping completely. But overall, there is little, if any real risk to using psilocybin mushrooms in small doses to help boost creativity in whatever task you are engaged in.
Want to give it a try? We have you covered with either dry whole mushrooms, or more precisely dosed capsules made from dry mushroom powder.
References
Self-reported negative outcomes of psilocybin users: A quantitative textual analysis
