Study: Psilocybin relieves OCD symptoms Wed Dec 20, 7:41 PM ET



TUCSON, Ariz. - A preliminary study of the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms has found it is effective in relieving the symptoms of people suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, a University of Arizona psychiatrist reports.


Dr. Francisco A. Moreno led the first FDA-approved clinical study of psilocybin since it was outlawed in 1970. The results of the small-scale study are published in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Moreno said the study's intent was only to test the safety of administering psilocybin to patients, and its effectiveness is still in doubt until a larger controlled study can be conducted.

But in each of the nine patients in the study, psilocybin completely removed symptoms of the disorder for a period of about four to 24 hours, with some remaining symptom-free for days, Moreno said.

"What we saw acutely was a drastic decrease in symptoms," Moreno said. "The obsessions would really dissolve or reduce drastically for a period of time."

Best known among the drug culture as magic mushrooms, the hallucinogenic fungus remains a popular illicit drug. Although banned by Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, research into medical uses is allowed.

The new research does not reflect any change in government policy, said Rogene Waite, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Currently, there is no treatment that eases symptoms of the disorder as fast as psilocybin appears to, Moreno said. Other drugs take several weeks to show an effect, but the psilocybin was almost immediate.

The drug is not one that could be taken daily, Moreno said, and many questions remain about its use, including if it would be addictive or if patients would develop a tolerance to the drug.

Moreno hopes to conduct an expanded study that could offer more convincing evidence of its effectiveness.

"We're very cautious about making too much of the early results," Moreno said. "I don't want to characterize it as psychedelics are the way to go. Although it seemed to be safe, this was done in the context of supervision by trained professionals in a medical setting. This is not ready to be used by the public just because nine people tolerated it."

Symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder typically develop in the teen years and can make it difficult hard for patients to lead normal, day-to-day lives.

The nine patients in the study had a range of compulsions, including fear of being contaminated, elaborate cleaning rituals, tapping or touching rituals and mental rituals. One patient wouldn't touch the floor with anything but the soles of his shoes. Others would shower for hours or put on pants over and over again until they felt right.

"They know it's senseless. They know it doesn't do anything for them, but if they don't do it they become very distraught and very uncomfortable and have a very difficult time functioning," Moreno said.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com

finally! an excuse to do drugs again. now i just have to make myself have ocd. i'm gonna go wash my hands seventeen times and see if it feels "right."

A playmate I know got me in a room, changed her pants in front of me showing her shaved pussy, and said "There's something I want us to do together." I said "oh yeah...what's on your mind". I was prepared for sex.

She then pulls out a mirror, a credit card, and a rolled up dollar bill. She puts some $300 per gram coke on the mirror, cuts it into lines, and then asks me to do three of them. I do. She does eight.

My one and only drug experience. I'd have preferred the sex. The coke only made my teeth numb.

That's interesting because God did not intend shrooms to relieve ocd. From what he told me, he intended them to impair the judgement of smelly hippies so they'll be more likely to play in traffic.

The study results aren't detailed enough to draw any conclusions. My experience with 'shrooms says the poor OCD fucker goes into the bathroom to wash his hands and becomes enamored with the glint of the vanity light on the faucet handle and forgets why he went in the bathroom to begin with.

Mushrooms replace a compulsion with an obsession.

What would be a fair price for an ounce of mushrooms?

Will shrooms help me explore my jondra?

the stuff that makes mushrooms work might be serotonergic. can't remember the details, but it's some kind of full/partial 5ht-agonist/antagonist.

ocd's sensitive to changes in serotonin, anything that tweaks regulation of it is potentially going to show effect.

the thing is, i'm pretty sure the stuff we whipped up in labs and sold as anti-depressants target serotonin better already so there's not a huge impetus to study shrooms since the days of leary and maois and tricyclics.

they've done similar studies with similar disorders(panic, eating, body dysmorphic, etc.) and i think they basically found there might be some potential for utility.

I love it when yoiu talk about chemicals and brains, sir. Kind of turns me on like when I go to howstuffworks.com. I finally found out how batteries work there recently. They call the "piles".

i love it when you fill your brain with boozy chemicals and post a lot

One ounce, one hundred dollars. It seems like an incredible deal.

I have one of those vacuum packer seal a meal things I use for gamebirds and meat.

It made short work of these fungi. I'm ready to be free of OCD.

lemme guess-you're on neurontin. i'm not bipolar but it seems to be the panacea of modern meds. it does something GABA-related so they'll rx it for pain, epilepsy, anxiety, bipolar, etc and it's only approved as an anticonvulsant. sometimes i'll take 1/10 the max theraputic dose of seroquel to sleep and it's sure as fuck not an approved sleep med, but works great.

off-label stuff is just a matter of fda-approval. example=paxil's basically just another ssri but it's the only one "approved" for social anxiety disorder but i know my sister chooses to go with off-label stuff with longer half-lives most of the time.

if you fuck with the fda and start marketing stuff off-label, they'll fine you half a billion dollars, but approval takes years and more cash. so off-label stuff exists-even shit like zyban being more expensive than wellbutrin and considerably so b/c insurance companies pay for antidepressants before smoking-cessation drugs.

you're one stupid poor loser. faggot.