The Role of MDMA as an Adjunct to Therapy for Adults with PTSD, as Illustrated by Participant Qualitative Data One-Year Post-Treatment
The Role of MDMA as an Adjunct to Therapy for Adults with PTSD, as Illustrated by Participant Qualitative Data One-Year Post-Treatment
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Issue Date
2017
Authors
Barone, William J.
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Abstract
The treatments currently employed for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have shown improving ability to alleviate specific symptoms, yet efficacy in improving the overall condition remains limited for a considerable portion of the population. With the goal of improving efficacy and the experience of clients in treatment for PTSD, the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has recently been employing FDA/DEA/IRB approved Phase-II clinical trials into a novel therapy: MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy . These clinical trials have shown promising results for the safety and efficacy of this modality through quantitative data; however, to date there have been no qualitative analyses that investigate the experience of subjects in these studies and to explore why they believe the therapy was or was not efficacious. This study aimed to fill this gap in the literature by performing a qualitative analysis of the most recent Phase-II clinical trial completed, which explored a treatment protocol of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for 24 veterans, police, and firefighters with severe and treatment-resistant PTSD . The current study focused on a subset of 17 participants from the Phase-II trial and employed semi-structured interviews at each of their one-year follow-up sessions post-treatment to explore a variety of factors related to their experiences and outcomes within the study. A model for coding pertinent data from these interviews was developed, and data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Goals included developing a deeper understanding into participants' experiences of the treatment and its efficacy, to explore the real-world application of neurobiological models previously proposed to explain how the therapy might work, and to aid in the development of improved protocols
for qualitative and quantitative research examining similar treatments. Results showed that none of the subjects experienced serious adverse reactions from participation, and all described noticeable benefits in symptoms and overall functioning sustained over the following year. Analysis of interviews provided a range of insights to better understand participants' experience of this treatment, provided real-world descriptions that support previously proposed neurobiological theories of how the therapy might work, and informed discussions about improving future protocols.
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"MDMA-assisted psychotherapy”,“MDMA","Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”,"PTSD","psychedelic","treatment-resistant PTSD"