Exploring Mechanisms of Action in MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2015-08-03
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

This study measures biological and psychological processes that might help researchers to better understand what is taking place during low or medium dose and full dose MDMA-assisted psychotherapy treatment in people with PTSD. Heart rate variability (HRV) will be measured up to three times; before and once or twice after receiving MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Brain activity will be measured before and after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in response to personalized trauma-related scripts. Participants will complete a measure of self-compassion at baseline and two months after a final experimental treatment session. Therapy techniques observed during recorded treatment sessions will be classified using a standardized clinical measure.

• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
• Treatments: N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Enrolled in the parent study, "A Randomized, Triple-Blind, Phase 2 Pilot Study Comparing 3 Different Doses of MDMA in Conjunction with Manualized Psychotherapy in 24 Veterans, Firefighters, and Police Officers with Chronic, Treatment-Resistant Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." NCT #: NCT01211405

Exclusion Criteria:

• Mass brain lesion

• Have metal in their skulls,

• Having brain or heart pacemakers

• History of major head trauma

• Have past or present panic or extreme discomfort with being in small enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)