It should be noted that taking irreversible MAOIs requires one to follow a strict diet to avoid foods high in monoamine precursors or compounds as this can lead to a hypertensive crisis.
Caution: I have an insanely high tolerance to harmalas and DMT. The doses that I take as 'microdose' are enough to make others hallucinate. These doses are bad indicators for microdosages. I have experimented with taking microdoses of harmalas daily to see how it influenced me. I have drunk as much as 1g of rue tea a day for a week and had significant improvement in mood. A single dose would be sufficient to keep my going for the day. During that period I received several compliments on my bright look and I smiled a lot.
More recently I'm experimenting with microdosing capped harmala hcl extracted from rue. I oversalted my harmalas a bit so I estimated that my caps contain around 130 to 150mg of harmalas. If I take one in the morning and another one somewhere around 3 in the afternoon I have an amazing day. I feel happy, negative emotions are present but aren't in charge. I am capable of reflecting on the emotion and letting it go.
I've also dosed higher during bicycle rides for enhanced visual acuity but anything above 250mg is uncomfortable on the stomach. These high dose bicycle rides sometimes act as a reset: if I do them for three days in a row and take two to three caps spread out over 2 to 3 hours there won't be a purge and I will experience moodlifting effects ranging from severals days to two weeks or more. However, it's very uncomfortable on the stomach and sometimes I think it's better to dose them at all once and purge the negative emotions.
I would personally rather take harmalas as an antidepressant than any SSRIs, irreversible MAOIs, tricyclics or the like. Harmalas have better researched long term effects compared to most of the antidepressants sold by pharmaceutical companies. Harmalas are known to increase 5-HT receptor density in certain brain areas.
I'm also quite sure there are people who have little or no benefit from harmalas. Please do remember that harmalas, just like any other antidepressant, are just a crutch. The best solution to depression is to deal with the causes of it through therapy, counselling or entheogen use (or a mix).
The spice extends life.
The spice expands consciousness.
The spice is vital to space travel.