MDMA to Treat PTSD in Adults
Dustin Latimer, Michael D. Stocker, Kia Sayers, Jackson Green, Adam M. Kaye, Alaa Abd-Elsayed, Elyse M. Cornett, Alan D. Kaye, Giustino Varrassi, Omar Viswanath, Ivan Urits
Psychopharmacology Bulletin August 12, 2025 DOI: 10.64719/pb.4414 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstractAbstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become one of the most common psychiatric diagnosis in the United States specifically within the veteran population. The current treatment options for this debilitating diagnosis include trauma-focused psychotherapies along with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI). 1 MDMA has recently been shown as a novel therapeutic agent with promisingly results in the treatment of PTSD. MDMA is a psychoactive compound traditionally categorized as a psychedelic amphetamine that deemed a Schedule I controlled substance in the 1980s. Prior to its status as a controlled substance, it was used by psychotherapists for an array of psychiatric issues. In more recent times, MDMA has resurfaced as a potential therapy for PTSD and the data produced from randomized, controlled trials back the desire for MDMA to be utilized as an effective pharmacologic therapy in conjunction with psychotherapy. 2
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on MDMA for PTSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novel psychopharmacological therapies for psychiatric disorders: psilocybin and MDMA. | 2016 | Review | |
| MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD: Are memory reconsolidation and fear extinction underlying mechanisms? | 2018 | Review | |
| Clinical applications of hallucinogens: A review. | 2016 | Review | |
| MDMA‐Assisted Psychotherapy for Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review With Meta‐Analysis | 2021 | Review | |
| Registered clinical studies investigating psychedelic drugs for psychiatric disorders. Registered clinical trials on clinicaltrials.gov evaluating psychedelics for... | 2021 | Review | n = 70 |