PMID- 29152674
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20181231
LR  - 20191210
IS  - 1432-2072 (Electronic)
IS  - 0033-3158 (Linking)
VI  - 235
IP  - 2
DP  - 2018 Feb
TI  - Progress and promise for the MDMA drug development program.
PG  - 561-571
LID - 10.1007/s00213-017-4779-2 [doi]
AB  - Pharmacotherapy is often used to target symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder 
      (PTSD), but does not provide definitive treatment, and side effects of daily 
      medication are often problematic. Trauma-focused psychotherapies are more likely 
      than drug treatment to achieve PTSD remission, but have high dropout rates and 
      ineffective for a large percentage of patients. Therefore, research into drugs 
      that might increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy is a logical avenue of 
      investigation. The most promising drug studied as a catalyst to psychotherapy for 
      PTSD thus far is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as the 
      recreational drug "Ecstasy." MDMA stimulates the release of hormones and 
      neurochemicals that affect key brain areas for emotion and memory processing. A 
      series of recently completed phase 2 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted 
      psychotherapy for treatment of PTSD show favorable safety outcomes and large 
      effect sizes that warrant expansion into multi-site phase 3 trials, set to 
      commence in 2018. The nonprofit sponsor of the MDMA drug development program, the 
      Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), is supporting these 
      trials to explore whether MDMA, administered on only a few occasions, can 
      increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Brain imaging techniques and animal 
      models of fear extinction are elucidating neural mechanisms underlying the robust 
      effects of MDMA on psychological processing; however, much remains to be learned 
      about the complexities of MDMA effects as well as the complexities of PTSD 
      itself.
FAU - Feduccia, Allison A
AU  - Feduccia AA
AD  - MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, 1115 Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, USA. 
      alli@mapsbcorp.com.
FAU - Holland, Julie
AU  - Holland J
AD  - Private Practice, New York, New York, 10016, USA.
FAU - Mithoefer, Michael C
AU  - Mithoefer MC
AD  - Medical University of South Carolina, 96 Jonathan Lucas St, Charleston, SC, 
      29425, USA.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Review
DEP - 20171120
PL  - Germany
TA  - Psychopharmacology (Berl)
JT  - Psychopharmacology
JID - 7608025
RN  - 0 (Hallucinogens)
RN  - 0 (Illicit Drugs)
RN  - KE1SEN21RM (N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine)
SB  - IM
MH  - Affect/drug effects/physiology
MH  - Animals
MH  - Brain/drug effects/physiology
MH  - Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic/methods
MH  - Drug Development/methods/*trends
MH  - Fear/drug effects/physiology/psychology
MH  - Hallucinogens/pharmacology/*therapeutic use
MH  - Humans
MH  - Illicit Drugs/pharmacology
MH  - Memory/drug effects/physiology
MH  - Mental Disorders/*drug therapy/*psychology
MH  - N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine/pharmacology/*therapeutic use
MH  - Neuroimaging/methods/trends
MH  - Psychotherapy/methods/trends
MH  - Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/drug therapy/psychology
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
OT  - MDMA
OT  - PTSD
OT  - Psychoactive effects
EDAT- 2017/11/21 06:00
MHDA- 2019/01/01 06:00
CRDT- 2017/11/21 06:00
PHST- 2017/06/01 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2017/11/01 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2017/11/21 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/01/01 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2017/11/21 06:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1007/s00213-017-4779-2 [pii]
AID - 10.1007/s00213-017-4779-2 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2018 Feb;235(2):561-571. doi: 
      10.1007/s00213-017-4779-2. Epub 2017 Nov 20.