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A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a devastating psychiatric disorder afflicting millions of people around the world. Characterized by severe anxiety, intrusive thoughts, pervasive nightmares, an assortment of somatic symptoms, associations with severe long-term health problems, and an elevate...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sottile, Robert J., Vida, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9596814/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36311515
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.991753
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author Sottile, Robert J.
Vida, Thomas
author_facet Sottile, Robert J.
Vida, Thomas
author_sort Sottile, Robert J.
collection PubMed
description Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a devastating psychiatric disorder afflicting millions of people around the world. Characterized by severe anxiety, intrusive thoughts, pervasive nightmares, an assortment of somatic symptoms, associations with severe long-term health problems, and an elevated risk of suicide, as much as 40–70% of patients suffer from refractory disease. 3,4-Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), like classic psychedelics such as psilocybin, have been used to enhance the efficacy of psychotherapy almost since their discovery, but due to their perceived potential for abuse and inclusion on USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) schedule 1, research into the mechanism by which they produce improvements in PTSD symptomology has been limited. Nevertheless, several compelling rationales have been explored, with the pro-social effects of MDMA thought to enhance therapeutic alliance and thus facilitate therapist-assisted trauma processing. This may be insufficient to fully explain the efficacy of MDMA in the treatment of psychiatric illness. Molecular mechanisms such as the MDMA mediated increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) availability in the fear memory learning pathways combined with MDMA's pro-social effects may provide a more nuanced explanation for the therapeutic actions of MDMA.
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spelling pubmed-95968142022-10-27 A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy Sottile, Robert J. Vida, Thomas Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a devastating psychiatric disorder afflicting millions of people around the world. Characterized by severe anxiety, intrusive thoughts, pervasive nightmares, an assortment of somatic symptoms, associations with severe long-term health problems, and an elevated risk of suicide, as much as 40–70% of patients suffer from refractory disease. 3,4-Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), like classic psychedelics such as psilocybin, have been used to enhance the efficacy of psychotherapy almost since their discovery, but due to their perceived potential for abuse and inclusion on USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) schedule 1, research into the mechanism by which they produce improvements in PTSD symptomology has been limited. Nevertheless, several compelling rationales have been explored, with the pro-social effects of MDMA thought to enhance therapeutic alliance and thus facilitate therapist-assisted trauma processing. This may be insufficient to fully explain the efficacy of MDMA in the treatment of psychiatric illness. Molecular mechanisms such as the MDMA mediated increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) availability in the fear memory learning pathways combined with MDMA's pro-social effects may provide a more nuanced explanation for the therapeutic actions of MDMA. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9596814/ /pubmed/36311515 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.991753 Text en Copyright © 2022 Sottile and Vida. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Sottile, Robert J.
Vida, Thomas
A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy
title A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy
title_full A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy
title_fullStr A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy
title_full_unstemmed A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy
title_short A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy
title_sort proposed mechanism for the mdma-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in ptsd patients treated with mdma-assisted therapy
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9596814/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36311515
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.991753
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