ReviewHuman psychopharmacology2022
Potential processes of change in MDMA-Assisted therapy for social anxiety disorder: Enhanced memory reconsolidation, self-transcendence, and therapeutic relationships.
Review in Human psychopharmacology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05138068 (Social Anxiety MDMA-Assisted Therapy Investigation), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Social Anxiety MDMA-Assisted Therapy Investigation (SAMATI): A Randomized, Delayed Treatment Control Phase 2 Study of the Safety and Effectiveness of Manualized MDMA-Assisted Therapy for the Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analytic analysis of the acute effects of MDMA on empathy and emotion recognition in humans.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive functioning associated with acute and subacute effects of classic psychedelics and MDMA - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- MDMA for the treatment of misophonia, a proposal.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Case Report: Amplified psychoanalysis? Psychoanalysis, OCD and MDMA in a clinical case study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- MDMA enhances empathy-like behaviors in mice via 5-HT release in the nucleus accumbens.Science advances · 2024Article
- Getting in Touch with Touch: The Importance of Studying Touch in MDMA-Assisted Therapy and the Development of a New Self-Report Measure.Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2024Review
- Self-transcendence accompanies aesthetic chills.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- Social Psychopharmacology: Novel Approaches to Treat Deficits in Social Motivation in Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Review
- Social anxiety and MDMA-assisted therapy investigation: a novel clinical trial protocol.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Potential processes of change in MDMA-Assisted therapy for social anxiety disorder: Enhanced memory reconsolidation, self-transcendence, and therapeutic relationships.Human psychopharmacology · 2022Review
- A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
- MDMA-Assisted Therapy as a Means to Alter Affective, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Neurological Systems Underlying Social Dysfunction in Social Anxiety Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveResearchers have suggested that psychotherapy may be enhanced by the addition of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), particularly in the treatment of disorders wherein interpersonal dysfunction is central, such as social anxiety disorder. We review literature pertaining to three potential processes of change that may be instigated during sessions involving MDMA administration in the treatment of social anxiety disorder.
designThis is a narrative review that integrates research on the etiology and maintenance of social anxiety disorder and mechanisms of action of MDMA to examine how MDMA may enhance psychotherapy outcomes.
resultsWe first outline how MDMA may enhance memory reconsolidation in social anxiety disorder. We then discuss how MDMA may induce experiences of self-transcendence and self-transcendent emotions such as compassion, love, and awe; and how these experiences may be therapeutic in the context of social anxiety disorder. We subsequently discuss the possibility that MDMA may enhance the strength and effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship which is a robust predictor of outcomes across many disorders as well as a potential key ingredient in treating disorders where shame and social disconnection are central factors.
conclusionWe discuss how processes of change may extend beyond the MDMA dosing sessions themselves.
Indexed as
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.