Psychiatrist will examine value of mushrooms in treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder

University Medical Center will host the first FDA-approved study in 27 years to test the safety of a hallucinogen as medication.

The study will explore whether psilocybin, which is derived from psychoactive mushrooms, is safe for use in treating humans, said Dr. Francisco Moreno, the assistant professor of psychiatry who is the study's principal investigator.

In order to conduct this study using psilocybin, a controlled substance, the DEA required that the investigators obtain licenses and take special provisions for secure storage of the drug.

"The whole idea of using drugs that are labeled as substances of abuse - it's still there in the public," Moreno said. "We're trying to demonstrate that it might be able to benefit people not benefited by conventional treatments."

If it is found to be safe, subsequent experiments will explore whether psilocybin can have a role in treating the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"This testing is not minor," Moreno said. "It is for people who are very incapacitated, whose lives are severely impaired by obsessive-compulsive disorder."

If this initial study is successful, it may pave the way for future experiments that may eventually result in FDA approval of psilocybin for use in the treatment of OCD.

"At this time our goal is not to get FDA approval, but to improve our understanding of the underlying biology of OCD and facilitate development of new therapeutic alternatives," Moreno said.

OCD - a psychiatric condition that occurs in 2 percent to 3 percent of people worldwide - causes people to obsess over fears or thoughts that cannot be controlled. Obsessive-compulsives are often portrayed as constantly washing their hands or thinking they need to do things in a particular order.

Although these are common stereotypes, OCD can encompass a variety of symptoms, such as the need to count things several times, irrational fears or interpersonal difficulties, according to the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation's website.

The study was conceived because of published reports from obsessive-compulsive patients who, after self-experimentation with psilocybin mushrooms, had experienced a reduction in OCD symptoms.

The drug works similarly as medications currently used to treat OCD - by activating serotonin receptors in the brain.

Existing treatments for OCD have several disadvantages - a low success rate and a high incidence of side effects.

The drugs currently in use have satisfactory effects in approximately 50 percent of cases, and most effects are not seen until after 4 to 8 weeks of continuous treatment, according to the Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies' Web site.