Are Psychedelics A Potential Treatment For OCD?

Psychedelics have long been anecdotally known to inspire and support behavioral change especially in response to compulsive and addictive behavior patterns. Many individuals actively utilize psilocybin microdosing to support them in smoking cessation as well as the treatment of drugs and alcohol dependency, but how about other compulsive behaviors linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder?

The New Atlas science journal published a great article highlighting the potential role of dysfunctional default mode networks (DMN) in obsessive-compulsive disorders and the likely role psilocybin can play in "resetting" the healthy functions of these networks. The DMN are a large-scale interconnected collection of brain regions responsible for self-reflection and daydreaming. Imaging studies suggest that psilocybin works to "disintegrate" resting-state networks in the brain such as the DMN. Simply put, psilocybin seems to break existing brain networks and allow for new healthier connections to be formed; this is more commonly known as enhanced neuroplasticity.

"My sense is that, in general, psilocybin therapy is enhanced by placing it within a wider psychotherapeutic program: it's well established now that there is an 'afterglow' period following a psychedelic session, where there is an enhanced level of psychological and neurological flexibility,” Jacobs tells New Atlas. “I suspect that in most conditions, this period of malleability is a powerful opportunity to make positive changes, which therapy can help.”

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