Psilocybin mushrooms stand ready for harvest in a humidified 'fruiting chamber' in the basement of a private home on July 28, 2023, in Fairfield County, Connecticut.John Moore/Getty Images
Motherhood is not for the faint of heart: After surviving the hunger games of swim lesson sign-up while taking a work call, trying to sell the crib in the wasteland that is Facebook Marketplace while scrambling together a dinner your kids will eat, you sit down for a second of “me time.” You scroll Instagram only to find out you’re not supposed to be praising your kids, white noise at bedtime is ruining their brains and the red dye in the food they’re currently eating may give them ADHD.
Inevitably then, on the agenda at every mom-friend get together is complaining about all of this parent-related pressure. At one such recent backyard soiree, I shared that my brain feels as if it’s floating in fog, with any real concentration seemingly just beyond reach. My fellow moms replied almost in unison: Try microdosing psilocybins, otherwise known as magic mushrooms.
A few weeks later, with different friends who usually share easy weekday recipes or favourite wines of the season, the group was comparing notes on how many microdose capsules they take, how often, what strain and which cute packaging they prefer. The capsules come in 1/10th of what a regular “mushroom trip” would be, and the theory is that, although the effects are “sub perceptual,” the microdose is said to improve one’s mood, concentration and ability to empathize, allowing for calmer parenting.
I admit, I was intrigued. But I also wondered: Is microdosing simply the latest ”rosé all day,” a profit-making marketing ploy that appeals to burnt-out moms. A Band-Aid to bring us comfort, in lieu of a village, with no actual systemic change to a system that is causing the stress in the first place?
And is the stress ever real; so much so that the U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a health advisory about modern parenting, citing that 48 per cent of parents, with kids under 18, feel completely overwhelmed by their stress, and 41 per cent feel completely numb by the stress. Is it any wonder we’re searching for a lifeline?
But magic mushrooms, it must be said, are illegal and unregulated in Canada. Yet there are at least a dozen dispensaries operating out in the open in both Toronto and Vancouver. The federal government website notes mushrooms are illegal, while also underlining the “promising results” of studies that examine psilocybin efficacy in “treating various mental-health disorders such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and problematic substance use.” What’s more, from an ongoing global study of over 22,000 microdosers, psychedelic researchers from the University of British Columbia say there are promising results – less anxiety, less depression, better moods – but clinical trials are needed.
If you ask Dominique Morisano, a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, the published scientific research is not entirely convincing. “Yes, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it helps people feel better. You might hear someone say, ‘today was a microdosing day and I got all this done and I feel much better.’”
She says it can’t be classified as safe, because it’s not regulated in any way. “We have people going into these grey-market mushroom shops and hoping what they’re buying and what they’re taking is actually what it says on the bottle, and taking them without a protocol.”
Psilocybe cubensis, known colloquially as psychedelic 'magic' mushrooms, at Rose City Laboratories, where the psilocybin-containing mushrooms will be tested for potency in accordance with Oregon state law, in Portland, Oregon, on May 10, 2023.ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Morisano, who specializes in psychedelic-assisted therapy in macrodoses, in clinical and legal settings, says there isn’t any conclusive evidence that microdosing does what it promises. The science that we do have, she says, only points to a positive placebo effect – “which is not necessarily a bad thing.” She explains that research has shown that simply taking the action to improve your mental health actually improves your mental health, and that seems to be what’s going on when stressed-out moms reach for their capsules.
And there are plenty of moms doing just that, as Hamilton, Ont., parenting coach Jenn Abbatiello can vouch. She helps stressed-out parents “break the cycle” of yelling, threatening, and bribing and guides them to find solutions for calmer, easier parenting. One of her suggestions is microdosing mushrooms. She uses psilocybins herself, as do 40 per cent of her clients.
“It’s one of many tools in my tool belt,” she says, and notes mushrooms were transformative for her. “When I became a mother I felt like failure,” she says, adding she was a high achiever and couldn’t cope when her parenting wasn’t perfect. She says parenting information on social media can be helpful, although " a lot of more awareness leads to more stress, when you have higher expectations of what you want your parenting to be.” She sums up how I feel every time I look at my phone.
“We get stuck in our head and very disconnected from our bodies,” she says, “and microdosing helps us reconnect.”
After a particularly hard week, I stopped by my mom-friend’s house for – what else – a glass of wine after bedtime. She had been microdosing for weeks, but not noticing any real benefits. Instead of putting down the bottle, she went down a rabbit hole online. Why wasn’t it working? What was she doing wrong?
And then we both realized this thinking is exactly the cause of our stress: If I’m always feeling like I’m missing a step, always picking up my phone to learn how wrong I am as a parent, always thinking I’m not doing enough for my kids, how can my brain ever clear the fog?
I decided to put down my phone, turn away from the capsule bottle and listen to what I do know to be scientific fact: Parents who even ask themselves these questions are good. Better than good. While it seems like there’s nothing we can do about the societal stress and crushing mental and physical load of doing this job, I try to listen to my inner parent: Take a deep breath. You’re doing just fine.
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