Experiments on rodents and humans show psilocybin reduces symptoms of the mental disorder
A study on the effects of psychedelic mushrooms on marble-burying behavior in mice suggests that the fungus may have clinical value in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
OCD is a prevalent mental illness characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. Marble burying is considered a model for the disorder in rodents and is observed by researchers to investigate possible treatments for the condition.
The study, conducted by Yoshihiro Matsushima and his colleagues, found mice that ingested the psychedelic mushroom Psilocybe argentipes displayed less marble-burying behavior.
“Hallucinogenic mushrooms have potential value as a novel form of pharmacotherapy, but no previous investigations have investigated the medicinal use of hallucinogenic mushrooms without psychotherapy,” Yoshihiro Matsushima and his colleagues explain. “In addition, few animal model studies have examined the use of psilocybin in OCD, and the effects on the marble-burying behavior.”
The reduction in marble-burying behavior caused by Psilocybe argentipes was comparable to the reduction in marble-burying behavior caused by fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used to treat OCD in humans.
“Currently, SSRIs represent first-line pharmacotherapy for OCD,” Yoshihiro Matsushima and his colleagues wrote in their study. “Nevertheless, the onset of action is slow, and 30-50% of patients do not respond at all to these agents.”
The study also investigated the effect of psilocybin, the main psychoactive substance in most magic mushrooms, on marble-burying behavior, but found that ingesting Psilocybe argentipes was more effective than ingesting only psilocybin. This suggests that other psychoactive substances in psychedelic mushrooms, such as psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin, bufotenin and aerginascin, are involved in the reduction of marble-burying behavior in mice.
The study was published in volume 73 of Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry in 2009.
Research on the potential clinical value of psychedelic mushrooms has been conducted on humans as well.
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry published a study in 2006 that assessed the safety, tolerability, and clinical effects of psilocybin in those diagnosed with OCD. The study was conducted to further investigate anecdotal reports that psilocybin reduced the symptoms of the disorder.
The study found that for 66.7% of the participants psilocybin reduced the symptoms of OCD, as measured by the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, by over 50%.
“Most subjects reporting symptom reduction experienced a period of relief that extended beyond the pharmacologically expected life of the drug,” Francisco A. Moreno and his colleagues explain in their study. ”
“Two of the subjects reported that their symptomatic improvement lasted most of the following week” and one participant reported “long-term remission at the end of the 4 test sessions” after a six month follow up.
The nine participants in the study arrived at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center at 8:00 in the morning on testing days. After being tested for drugs of abuse and pregnancy (in women), the participants were given a dose of psilocybin and required to remain within the testing room for the next eight hours.
The participants wore eye-shades and listened to music for the majority of the time in the testing room. After this eight hour period, the participants were transferred to the inpatient unit of the hospital for overnight observation and released in the morning. The testing days were separated by at least one week.
They completed the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) and a visual analog scale before ingesting psilocybin and four, eight, and twenty-four hours after ingestion to evaluate their obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Of the nine participants, two dropped out of the study due to the discomforts of the hospital setting, and one participant experienced brief hypertension after a medium dose of psilocybin and did not receive a higher dose.
“In spite of these concerns, given that OCD is associated with a great deal of human suffering and societal burden, and that treatment-resistant OCD represents a valid indication for irreversible brain damage, it may be reasonable to consider psilocybin, with its potential benefit, a less burdensome alternative and one worth investigating further,” Moreno and his colleagues concluded.
