MDMA-assisted therapy has been gaining ground in the past few years. While the practice has been ongoing in underground settings for decades, the first-ever FDA-sanctioned Phase 3 trial study by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies) is shedding new light on the promising effects of MDMA-assisted therapy in the treatment of PTSD.
"Of the 90 people who took part in the new study, which is expected to be published later this month in Nature Medicine, those who received MDMA during therapy experienced a significantly greater reduction in the severity of their symptoms compared with those who received therapy and an inactive placebo. Two months after treatment, 67 percent of participants in the MDMA group no longer qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD, compared with 32 percent in the placebo group.
MDMA produced no serious adverse side effects. Some participants temporarily experienced mild symptoms like nausea and loss of appetite." reported New York Times. While the entirety of the study is not yet available for review, the reported results are incredibly encouraging and could pave the way to expand interest and investment to research the therapeutic effects of other psychedelic medicines like psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline. "Mental health experts say that this research — the first Phase 3 trial conducted on psychedelic-assisted therapy — could pave the way for further studies on MDMA’s potential to help address other difficult-to-treat mental health conditions, including substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, eating disorders, depression, end-of-life anxiety and social anxiety in autistic adults."
