Psychotherapy
January 13, 2025
Roman Palitsky, Jessica L Maples-Keller, Caroline Peacock et al.
13 citations
In an open-label trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for cancer-related demoralization and chronic pain, patients, facilitators, and caregivers identified key components and improvements for the treatment protocol. Using the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, interviews revealed critical incidents, wish list items, and contributing factors related to therapy aspects like intention-setting and overall protocol transitions. The findings emphasize tailoring treatment to individual medical history, supporting common therapeutic factors, and ensuring collaborative care. Nine topic areas for protocol improvement emerged from the data.
Biological psychiatry
February 15, 2025
Jessica L Maples-Keller, Laura Watkins, Natalie Hellman et al.
12 citations
Treatment approaches for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on fear conditioning and extinction models are reviewed. Fear extinction provides a translational model linking basic research in nonhuman animals to human treatments such as prolonged exposure therapy. Cognitive aspects of extinction, including consolidation and reconsolidation, are discussed along with behavioral and pharmacological strategies for preventing and treating chronic PTSD. Augmentation strategies reviewed include disrupting noradrenergic processes, NMDA receptor medications, physical exercise, cannabinoids, estradiol, dexamethasone, yohimbine, losartan, dopamine, and MDMA, with evidence for their efficacy in human samples. Limitations and future directions are also addressed.
Contemporary clinical trials communications
February 1, 2025
Jessica L Maples-Keller, Boadie W Dunlop, Barbara O Rothbaum
5 citations
An open-label pilot trial will test whether 100 mg of MDMA combined with massed exposure therapy—daily sessions for two weeks—is feasible for treating PTSD. The authors argue that combining MDMA with a gold-standard exposure treatment has translational support and strong dissemination potential. The study aims to enroll at least 15 adults with PTSD over two years to develop a treatment manual, which will later be tested in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. This approach could improve the ability to treat PTSD.
Journal of psychoactive drugs
October 23, 2024
Jessica L Maples-Keller, Courtland S Hyatt, Nathaniel L Phillips et al.
2 citations
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 34 healthy adults examined whether a single dose of MDMA alters five-factor model personality traits and affective states 48 hours later. No statistically significant changes were observed for the four pre-registered hypotheses, but medium effect sizes emerged: trait Openness increased (d = .79) and Positive Affect increased (d = .51) compared to placebo. These preliminary findings suggest MDMA may produce short-term shifts in openness and positive mood, warranting larger, longer-term studies to clarify how such changes might inform MDMA-assisted therapy.
Journal of traumatic stress
May 7, 2025
Mark Creamer, Richard Bryant, Amy Lehrner et al.
1 citation
A panel of clinicians and researchers at the 2024 ISTSS annual meeting discussed psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Despite diverse views, they largely agreed the approach is an exciting possibility for patients who have not responded to existing evidence-based treatments. However, they also agreed that considerably more rigorous research is needed before definitive conclusions about its components and efficacy can be drawn. Ethical concerns, especially regarding accessibility, will pose a significant challenge for provider organizations.