MDMA‐Assisted Psychotherapy: A New Paradigm in the Treatment of Resistant Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder?

• Autor(a) principal: Mota, Pedro
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Proença Becker, Joana, Quartilho, Manuel João
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.51338/rppsm.327
• topic: Hallucinogens; N‐Methyl‐3,4‐methylenedioxyamphetamine; Psychotherapy; Stress Disorders, Post‐Traumatic; Alucinogénios; N‐Metil‐3,4‐Metilenodioxianfetamina; Perturbação de Stress Pós‐Traumático; Psicoterapia

Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychiatric illness, usually chronic, with severe implications for the quality of life of the affected person and their family, and which has been increasingly recognized as a Public Health problem. In the last two decades, clinical studies with 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) have been demonstrating its promising role as a psychotherapeutic catalyst in patients with PTSD, and in 2017 MDMA‐assisted psychotherapy was named breakthrough therapy by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These studies have been replicated in several locations around the world, according to strict protocols, and its approval for clinical use is currently scheduled for 2023. In May 2021, the first results of phase III studies were published, in which participants who received MDMA‐Assisted Psychotherapy experienced a significant and lasting reduction in PTSD symptoms. The acute prosocial and interpersonal effects of MDMA have been shown to significantly improve the quality of the therapeutic alliance, enhancing adherence to PTSD treatment and its outcome. Clinicians suggest that MDMA can catalyze therapeutic processing, allowing patients to remain emotionally engaged while revisiting traumatic experiences without becoming overwhelmed.Taking into account the prevalence of PTSD and the limitations found with currently available treatments, a literature review was carried out with the aim of examining the use of MDMA assisted psychotherapy in post‐traumatic stress disorder, presenting a historical contextualization of this molecule, its potential effects on different symptoms of this disorder and identifying priority areas for intervention and future investigations.