Clinical trials suggest treatment that involves psychedelics can be more
effective than psychotherapy alone.
More than three
million people in the United States are diagnosed each year with post-traumatic
stress disorder, whose symptoms include nightmares or unwanted memories of
trauma, heightened reactions, anxieties, and depression–and can last months, or
even years.
People with
PTSD–difficulty recovering from experiencing or witnessing a traumatic
event–have traditionally been treated with a combination of trauma-focused
psychotherapy and a regimen of medications. Many sufferers have not responded
well to that treatment, but new research to be presented by the Medical
University of South Carolina’s Dr. Michael Mithoefer and colleagues, at the
annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, suggests
that the combination of some psychedelic drugs and traditional psychotherapy
holds promise.
Psychedelic
substances are often found in nature and have been used in various cultures
over thousands of years. Formal medical research into their medicinal uses
starting in the 1950s produced promising results published in major journals
but was largely halted in the 1970s for political rather than medical or
scientific reasons. More recent studies argue that, when administered in a
controlled clinical setting, MDMA (more commonly known as ecstasy) and
psilocybin (the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms”) have acceptable risk
profiles –and patients who experienced temporary adverse reactions did not
require additional medical intervention.
In the past few
years the FDA has granted both MDMA and psilocybin Breakthrough Therapy
Designations for PTSD and depression respectively, acknowledging they may
improve upon existing therapies, and agreeing to expedite their development and
review.
The research by
Dr. Mithoefer and his team includes six Phase 2 clinical trials conducted by
independent investigators in four countries. In the trials, one group of
patients was administered MDMA during their psychotherapy sessions, while the
other group was administered a placebo or low dose comparator in conjunction
with the same psychotherapy. The overall conclusion from these studies was that
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy was significantly more effective at treating
patients with persistent PTSD than unassisted psychotherapy.
The researchers
aim to both review the successes that have been seen in the use of psychedelic
drugs to treat trauma-related disorders and depression, as well as address
several of the outstanding questions the medical community may still have
concerning the safety, efficacy, and neurobiological functions of these novel
treatment options.
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