MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD Shows Promise for Patients of Diverse Backgrounds

Several sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy led to improvements in a diverse population of adults with moderate to severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to areport inNature Medicine.“In a historic first, to our knowledge, for psychedelic treatment studies, participants who identified as ethnically or racially diverse encompassed approximately half of the study sample,” wrote Jennifer Mitchell, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Fransico, and colleagues. “A substa ntial proportion of participants displayed comorbid features associated with high treatment resistance, such as major depression, multiple sources of trauma (including childhood and combat trauma), and dissociative subtype PTSD.”Mitchell and colleagues enrolled 104 adults 18 years and older with moderate to severe PTSD —defined as a score of at least 28 on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale forDSM-5(CAPS-5). The participants, recruited from 13 sites across the United States and Israel, included 28 individuals who identified as Hispanic/Latino and 35 individuals who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or multiple races.Before starting therapy, all participants received three, 90-minute therapy sessions to prepare them for the study. The participants were then randomized to receive MDMA combined with therapy or placebo combined with therapy. They completed three eight-hour dosing sessions conducted by a two-pe...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: CAPS-5 diversity DSM-5 MDMA MDMA-assisted psychotherapy Nature Medicine PTSD severe to moderate PTSD Source Type: research