Study Protocol for ‘PsilOCD: A Pharmacological Challenge Study Evaluating the Effects of the 5-HT2A Agonist Psilocybin on the Neurocognitive and Clinical Correlates of Compulsivity’
Cureus – January 29, 2025
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Unlocking the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, a potent hallucinogen, new research targets Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. This clinical psychology protocol aims to reveal the neurocognitive and neural mechanisms by which this medicine influences cognition, offering crucial neuroscience insights. Focusing on psilocybin's pharmacology as a neurotransmitter receptor agonist, the study will determine the feasibility and efficacy of a low-dose treatment. This work, part of broader psychedelics and drug studies, seeks to establish specific response percentages and tolerability rates, informing psychiatry and potentially related fields like body image and dysmorphia studies.
Abstract
This study's results are expected to offer critical insights into the neural mechanisms underlying the effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy in treating OCD, and whether these correlate with changes in the cognitive features of the condition. As a secondary aim, it will ascertain whether a low, tolerable dose is a feasible and efficacious clinical treatment, and will provide crucial data to guide the design of a potential follow-up randomised control trial (RCT).