Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Perth OCD Clinic, Perth, Australia. Electronic address: gayle.maloney@perthocdclinic.com.au.
2 papers in the library · 37 citations · publishing 2022-2024
A patient with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder received psilocybin and was followed for a year. His OCD symptoms markedly improved, with the YBOCS score dropping from 24 to between 0 and 2. Broader gains included better emotional connection, social and work functioning, and quality of life. This individual was an early participant in an ongoing controlled study. The results are preliminary but suggest that carefully monitored and supported psychedelic treatment may hold therapeutic potential for obsessions and compulsions.
About 30-50% of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder do not respond to standard treatments. Recent pilot data suggest benefit from both psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy and imagery rescripting. Both interventions appear to allow reprocessing of negative emotions and core beliefs linked to past aversive events. The authors propose that basing psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on an imagery rescripting framework may provide synergistic benefits in reducing symptoms, modifying core beliefs, and supporting value-based living.