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Rebecca Matthews

Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Department of Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), San Jose, CA, USA. MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC), San Jose, CA, USA. Kleiman Consulting and Psychological Services, Sayreville, NJ, USA. KPG Psychological Services LLC, Brunswick, ME, USA. Aguazul-Bluewater Inc., Boulder, CO, USA. MDMA Therapy Training Program, MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, San Jose, CA, USA. Nautilus Sanctuary, New York, NY, USA. Fluence, Woodstock, NY, USA. Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA. Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA. San Francisco Insight and Integration Center, San Francisco, CA, USA. British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer, Israel. Ray Worthy Psychiatry LLC, New Orleans, LA, USA. Wholeness Center, Fort Collins, CO, USA. New School Research LLC, North Hollywood, CA, USA. Zen Therapeutic Solutions, Mt Pleasant, SC, USA. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dr Simon Amar Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Be'er Ya'akov Ness Ziona Mental Health Center, Be'er Ya'akov, Israel. Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. e-mail: jennifer.mitchell@ucsf.edu.

4 papers in the library · 1,138 citations · publishing 2021-2023

Papers

MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study.

Nature medicine June 1, 2021 Jennifer M Mitchell, Michael Bogenschutz, Alia Lilienstein et al. 965 citations

A phase 3 clinical trial tested MDMA-assisted therapy against placebo for severe PTSD. Participants received manualized therapy with either MDMA or placebo alongside preparatory and integrative sessions. At two months after the last session, the MDMA group showed a significantly greater reduction in PTSD symptoms (average 24.4-point drop on the CAPS-5 scale) compared to the placebo group (13.9-point drop), with a large effect size. Functional impairment also improved more with MDMA. No serious safety issues such as abuse potential, suicidality, or heart rhythm problems were observed. The findings suggest MDMA-assisted therapy is highly effective and safe for severe PTSD, including in people with common co-occurring conditions.

MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Severe PTSD: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Study.

Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) July 1, 2023 Jennifer M Mitchell, Michael Bogenschutz, Alia Lilienstein et al. 97 citations

A phase 3 clinical trial tested MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD. In 90 participants randomized to receive either MDMA or placebo alongside therapy, those receiving MDMA showed a significantly larger reduction in PTSD symptoms, with an average decrease of 24.4 points on the CAPS-5 scale compared to 13.9 points in the placebo group. Functional impairment also improved more with MDMA. No serious safety issues like abuse potential or suicidality were observed. The treatment was effective even for patients with common co-occurring conditions such as depression or substance use history. The authors conclude MDMA-assisted therapy is a safe and highly effective treatment for severe PTSD.

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy for victims of sexual abuse with severe post-traumatic stress disorder: an open label pilot study in Brazil.

Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) January 1, 2021 Alvaro V Jardim, Dora V Jardim, Bruno Rasmussen Chaves et al. 54 citations

In Brazil's first clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), three patients with PTSD from sexual abuse completed treatment. The protocol involved 15 weekly therapy sessions, with three sessions including orally administered MDMA combined with psychotherapy and music, spaced about a month apart. Two months after the final MDMA session, all three patients showed clinically significant improvement, with CAPS-4 scores dropping by more than 30% from baseline. Final scores were 61, 27, and 8, down from 90, 78, and 72. No serious adverse events occurred; common side effects were somatic pains and anguish. Secondary outcomes also improved. MDMA-assisted psychotherapy could become a viable PTSD treatment in Brazil.

Scaling Up: Multisite Open-Label Clinical Trials of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 23, 2021 Julie B. Wang, Jessica Lin, Leah Bedrosian et al. 22 citations

MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) can be scaled across multiple clinic sites while maintaining high treatment fidelity. In an open-label study across 14 North American sites, cotherapist dyads were trained in a manualized protocol and administered three experimental sessions to participants with severe PTSD. Adherence to the therapy protocol was high across both dyads and sites. PTSD symptom severity, measured by the CAPS-5, decreased substantially after three sessions at 18 weeks. MDMA was well tolerated. These results indicate that the benefits of MDMA-AT for PTSD can be achieved in a multi-site, real-world clinical setting.