Low-Dose LSD and Social Anxiety: A Path to Confidence?

What Does the Research Say?

Low-dose LSD edibles—often microdosed via gummies or chocolates—are increasingly discussed as potential tools for alleviating social anxiety and boosting confidence. Recent scientific studies and surveys have begun shedding light on how these low doses might affect social emotions and behaviors, though the picture is nuanced and complex.

Emotional Processing and Social Exclusion

• Controlled clinical research has found that a single low dose of LSD (around 26μg) can reduce feelings of social rejection during tasks that simulate social exclusion. These findings suggest that low-dose LSD may dampen the intensity of negative feelings in sensitive social scenarios, possibly helping those who struggle with social anxiety become less reactive to perceived rejection or exclusion.
• Low doses can reduce bias toward negative emotions (like fear) and slightly improve emotional flexibility. This effect is thought to be related to LSD’s action on serotonin 5-HT2A/1A receptors—key pathways involved in mood, fear processing, and social cognition.

Prosocial Feelings: Empathy, Openness, and Social Confidence

• Several studies and surveys confirm that both low and moderate doses of LSD acutely increase feelings of social connectedness, empathy, and openness. Participants often report greater trust, a desire to be with others, increased happiness, and feeling closer to people around them during the acute effects window.
• In one notable study, individuals with higher baseline anxiety or neuroticism showed a particularly strong response, reporting higher adaptation to social norms and more openness to social interaction after LSD administration. Enhanced empathy and diminished anxiety may underlie these shifts.
• Chronic or frequent microdosing has also been associated with lower reported levels of anxiety and stress in large survey research, compared to non-microdosers.

Do the Effects Last?

• Most mood- and social-related benefits from microdosed LSD appear to be transient—lasting just hours to a few days after the dose.
• There’s little evidence that microdosing leads to enduring changes in confidence or social anxiety without ongoing use, and the effects tend to diminish with repeated doses due to tolerance.
• The benefits are often described as subtle: users feel more “at ease” in social contexts, less preoccupied by negative evaluation, and more able to engage—especially on dose days.

Risks and Caveats

• Low-dose LSD is generally well tolerated by healthy adults, but some participants in studies have experienced transient anxiety or confusion, particularly at higher microdoses.
• Not all studies find robust effects: some trials report that microdosing has little or no impact on general anxiety, boldness, or mood outside the short acute window.
• Effects can be highly individual and may depend on mindset, environment, and personal sensitivity.
• LSD—of any dose or format—remains illegal in most jurisdictions and can carry legal and psychological risks.

Key Takeaways

• Low-dose LSD may help some individuals feel less sensitive to social rejection and more open, connected, and confident in social interactions, primarily in the short-term following use.
• The strongest effects seem to be increased prosocial feelings (empathy, trust, openness) and a muted sensitivity to negative feedback or fear in social settings.
• There is no strong evidence for lasting reductions in social anxiety, and tolerance develops rapidly with repeated use.
• Benefits are modest, individual-dependent, and must be weighed against legal and possible psychological risks.