Psilocybin in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: What do we know so far?

Promising findings suggest psilocybin, a potent hallucinogen, may offer relief for obsessive-compulsive disorder. One open-label clinical trial observed acute reductions in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, sparking interest across psychology and psychiatry. This initial data is encouraging for medicine and clinical psychology, prompting further rigorous clinical trials. These investigations aim to solidify psilocybin's potential in mental health research topics, exploring new therapeutic avenues for psychotherapists and advancing psychedelics and drug studies.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Introduction Psilocybin is a naturally occurring plant alkaloid in mushrooms and a prodrug of psilocin. It is a serotonin receptor (5-HT2A) agonist and known psychedelic, with similar hallucinatory properties to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). It has been identified as a safe and effective option in treatment-resistant depression. Literature focus mainly on its use on depressive but its interest in other psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has grown. Objectives To review the clinical evidence for the use of hallucinogens such as psilocybin in OCD. Methods Non-systematic review of literature found on PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science and Google Scholar, using the keywords “obsessive-compulsive disorder”, “psilocybin” and “hallucinogens”. Articles may include clinical trials, case report or case series. Articles found were admitted according to their relevance for the topic in review; only articles in English were included. Ongoing research trials on this topic were checked on ClinicalTrials.gov. Results So far, only one open-label non-randomized study directly assessed the effects of psilocybin on OCD patients that found acute reductions of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Case reports of patients improving with off-label use of psilocybin are reported. There are two ongoing phase I research trials, aiming to explore the effect of the substance on symptomatology, hypothesizing that psilocybin will normalize cerebral connectivity and thus correlate with clinical improvement. Conclusions More research to establish the usefulness of psilocybin in OCD patients is needed; the collected data is encouraging are there may be a role for its use on this disorder.