An Analysis of the Use of Psilocybin to Treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Essay

Using journal articles and case studies from several notable resources in the field of psychology and psychotherapy, I will be exploring the use of psilocybin to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). First and foremost, understanding the history of the field of psychedelics in research is crucial to investigate the current methodologies and the implications of the findings. I will then delve into psilocybin and OCD independent of each other before discussing the journal articles and case studies pertaining to the psychotherapeutic uses of the psychedelic. I hypothesize that the findings for the use of psilocybin to treat OCD are generally very positive and that the drug absolutely has potential to help more individuals, however due to the uncontrollable nature of the drug and a negative stigma surrounding psychedelics that inhibits more extensive research, psilocybin will remain unused to its full potential.I. The Stigma Surrounding PsychedelicsPsychedelics are typically illicit drugs with serious and negative stigmas surrounding them. It had not always been this way. Between 1953 and 1973, the federal government spent four million dollars to fund a hundred and sixteen studies of LSD involving more than seventeen hundred subjects (Pollan). The studies yielded frequently positive results, however during the sixties, LSD swept through counterculture. As a result, in 1970, a Controlled Substances Act was passed and psilocybin mushrooms, acid, and ecstasy were classified as Schedule 1 substances. They have since been defined as having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse and considered the most dangerous of all drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence (Rivas). All research that was previously being done was effectively killed due to these bold statements and restrictions. According to Brad Burge, director of communications and marketing for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the stigma and unwillingness of researches and regulators to look at Schedule 1 drugs from a scientific perspective has made funding difficult and approvals so time-consuming (Rivas). Fortunately, in...

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