Depression and Anxiety
April 17, 2013
Anthony P. King, Thane M. Erickson, Nicholas D. Giardino et al.
258 citations
Group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) adapted for combat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is feasible, acceptable, and associated with clinically meaningful reductions in PTSD symptom severity, particularly avoidance and numbing symptoms, and trauma-related cognitions such as self-blame. In an outpatient VA clinic, veterans with chronic PTSD who completed an 8-week MBCT group showed significant improvement on clinician-rated PTSD symptoms, whereas those in brief treatment-as-usual did not. Homework compliance was good, and drop-out rates were modest. The findings suggest MBCT as a brief adjunctive therapy for combat PTSD, but randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm efficacy.
Psychopharmacology
July 24, 2017
Matthew B Young, Seth D. Norrholm, Lara M. Khoury et al.
103 citations
MDMA enhances the extinction of fear memories in a translational behavioral model, an effect that depends on the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and the 5-HT2A receptor. These findings support the potential use of MDMA as an adjunct to exposure therapy for fear-related disorders and highlight important pharmacological considerations for patients who are often treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
Journal of Psychopharmacology
February 15, 2022
Jessica L Maples-Keller, Seth D. Norrholm, Mark Burton et al.
53 citations
A randomized placebo-controlled trial tested whether MDMA enhances fear extinction retention in healthy adults. Participants underwent fear conditioning, then received 100 mg MDMA or placebo before extinction training. Fear retention was tested 48 hours later. MDMA was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events. While the overall analysis showed no significant group difference in extinction retention between training and test sessions, a significantly larger proportion of the MDMA group retained extinction learning compared to the placebo group. The results provide a rationale for further research into MDMA's potential effects on fear extinction.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
October 23, 2024
Jessica L Maples-Keller, Courtland S Hyatt, Nathaniel L Phillips et al.
2 citations
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 34 healthy adults examined whether a single dose of MDMA alters five-factor model personality traits and affective states 48 hours later. No statistically significant changes were observed for the four pre-registered hypotheses, but medium effect sizes emerged: trait Openness increased (d = .79) and Positive Affect increased (d = .51) compared to placebo. These preliminary findings suggest MDMA may produce short-term shifts in openness and positive mood, warranting larger, longer-term studies to clarify how such changes might inform MDMA-assisted therapy.
Contemporary Clinical Trials
January 1, 2026
Christine A Rabinak, Paul E Kilgore, Mark A Lumley et al.
Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy is effective for PTSD, but dropout and partial response remain problems. This trial tests whether synthetic THC (dronabinol) can improve PE outcomes. Adults with PTSD are randomly assigned to receive 7.5 mg THC or placebo before PE sessions 3 through 6, when extinction learning occurs. The study measures PTSD symptom severity, brain activation during fear extinction, and physiological responses. If THC enhances extinction learning, this FDA-approved drug could be quickly added to PE therapy to boost its effectiveness.
Depression and Anxiety
April 1, 2016
Anthony P. King, Stefanie R Block, Rebecca K Sripada et al.
Mindfulness training may help treat PTSD by strengthening connections between brain networks involved in self-focused thought and executive control. In combat veterans with PTSD, a mindfulness-based group therapy reduced symptoms (effect size d = 0.92), though not significantly more than an active control therapy (d = 0.46). Brain scans showed that mindfulness training increased resting-state functional connectivity between the default mode network and regions supporting attention and control, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. This increased connectivity correlated with improvements in avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms, suggesting a neural mechanism for how mindfulness helps regulate attention and reduce PTSD symptoms.