Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) alone impacts millions of people annually, with immense personal and societal costs. There is an urgent need for transformative solutions.

Despite the profound need, existing therapies and medications fall short. Only about half of patients complete trauma-focused psychological therapies, and their success rate is similarly limited. Medications approved in the 1990s offer minimal benefit with significant side effects.

What is MDMA, and what does it do to the brain?
MDMA is a psychoactive substance that enhances emotional openness, reduces fear, and promotes feelings of safety and connection. It works by boosting brain chemicals like serotonin and oxytocin, which improve mood and reduce anxiety.

MDMA also impacts brain networks, enhancing empathy and improving how emotional and sensory information is processed. Research has shown that MDMA increases connectivity between the brain areas amygdala and hippocampus, regions involved in emotion and memory.

Additionally, MDMA temporarily makes the brain more flexible, allowing for easier emotional processing and a greater sense of connection to others. It boosts the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize.

Feeling safe
Creating a sense of trust and safety is crucial when addressing trauma, and MDMA-assisted therapy excels in fostering this environment.

MDMA influences the brain by increasing levels of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone crucial for building trust, emotional connection, and social bonding.

Often released during positive interactions like touch or connection, it helps strengthen relationships and supports emotional well-being by enhancing the sense of safety and closeness with others. It is very powerful, an example being its release in the brain in mothers when they breastfeed their offspring.

This supportive state allows individuals to confront and process traumatic memories more effectively.

MDMA in therapy
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy combines a supportive psychotherapeutic framework, the use of MDMA to alter consciousness, and tools like music and sensory aids to deepen the healing process. It facilitates access to repressed memories and emotions, enabling patients to process trauma with enhanced safety and compassion.

Clinical trials suggest MDMA’s potential extends beyond trauma, addressing conditions like addiction, anxiety, and depression, especially where these stem from traumatic experiences. However, more research needs to be done to challenge that.

About the scientific paper:

First author: Scott Shannon, USA
Published in: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, December 2024
Link to paper: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1475013/full