Revealing shortcomings in the assessment of psilocybin effects on OCD-related symptoms in preclinical and clinical studies: A systematic review
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports June 8, 2026 Marzieh Jalalian-Javadpour, Batool Ghorbani Yekta, Niloufar Reyhani et al.
Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, shows potential for treating neuropsychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Evidence for OCD is very limited. This review examined 15 articles from 268 initial search results. All clinical studies—both case reports and clinical trials—reported improvement in OCD symptoms. Preclinical studies using OCD-like models were rare and showed some conflicting results. The review identifies shortcomings in assessing psilocybin's effects on OCD and calls for more detailed preclinical studies and clinical trials with dozens of participants.