Dan I Lubman

MDMA-assisted PTSD and Alcohol Therapy Trial (MPATHY): study protocol for a double-blind, randomised, controlled outpatient trial of MDMA-assisted integrated exposure-based therapy for comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder

BMJ Open July 1, 2026 Kirsten Morley, Shalini Arunogiri, Katherine L. Mills et al.

INTRODUCTION: The treatment of comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is significantly more challenging than the treatment of either disorder alone. While gold standard evidence-based treatments exist for this comorbidity, clinically significant improvements are only observed in approximately half of clinical trial participants. The use of adjunctive...

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-114896 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab) Alcohol use disorder Major depressive disorder Dosing Randomized controlled trial +11

MDMA alters fear extinction, and reduces alcohol consumption in inbred alcohol preferring iP rats but not outbred Wistar rats.

Neuropsychopharmacology March 27, 2026 Kade L Huckstep, Billi Newton, Grace Bailey et al.

Comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use is common and mutually-reinforcing, yet there are no pharmacological strategies that specifically target trauma-linked escalation of alcohol intake. We evaluated whether 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), given in a therapy-adjunctive fashion (30 min before fear extinction), could facilitate extinction of...

DOI: 10.1038/s41386-026-02394-2 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab)

Hippocampal harms, protection and recovery following regular cannabis use.

Translational Psychiatry January 12, 2016 Murat Yücel, Valentina Lorenzetti, Chao Suo et al.

Shifting policies towards legalisation of cannabis for therapeutic and recreational use raise significant ethical issues for health-care providers seeking evidence-based recommendations. We investigated whether heavy cannabis use is associated with persistent harms to the hippocampus, if exposure to cannabidiol offers protection, and whether recovery occurs with abstinence. To do this, we...

DOI: 10.1038/tp.2015.201 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab)

Structural MRI findings in long-term cannabis users: what do we know?

Substance Use & Misuse September 2010 Valentina Lorenzetti, Dan I Lubman, Sarah Whittle et al.

In animal studies, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been found to affect brain morphology, particularly within areas rich in cannabinoid receptors (e.g., hippocampus, cerebral cortex). While cannabis remains the most widely used illicit drug worldwide, there has been limited work investigating its effects on human brain tissue. In this paper, we conducted a systematic review of existing...

DOI: 10.3109/10826084.2010.482443 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab)