MDMA to Treat PTSD in Adults

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among U.S. veterans. Standard treatments include trauma-focused psychotherapies and antidepressant medications such as SSRIs and SNRIs. MDMA, a psychoactive compound classified as a Schedule I controlled substance since the 1980s, has reemerged as a potential therapy. Before prohibition, psychotherapists used it for various psychiatric conditions. Recent randomized, controlled trials support MDMA as an effective pharmacological adjunct to psychotherapy for PTSD.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become one of the most common psychiatric diagnosis in the United States specifically within the veteran population. The current treatment options for this debilitating diagnosis include trauma-focused psychotherapies along with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI). 1 MDMA has recently been shown as a novel therapeutic agent with promisingly results in the treatment of PTSD. MDMA is a psychoactive compound traditionally categorized as a psychedelic amphetamine that deemed a Schedule I controlled substance in the 1980s. Prior to its status as a controlled substance, it was used by psychotherapists for an array of psychiatric issues. In more recent times, MDMA has resurfaced as a potential therapy for PTSD and the data produced from randomized, controlled trials back the desire for MDMA to be utilized as an effective pharmacologic therapy in conjunction with psychotherapy. 2