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.