ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2022
A proposed mechanism for the MDMA-mediated extinction of traumatic memories in PTSD patients treated with MDMA-assisted therapy.
Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Biological treatments for co-occurring eating disorders and psychological trauma: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2024Pooled it
- MDMA enhances positive affective responses to social feedback.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Psychedelics and neurostimulation for treatment resistant psychiatric disorders.Discover mental health · 2026Review
- The helioscope effect: A new framework for evaluating trauma-related memory processing in psychedelic experiences.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Lifetime MDMA use and associations with meaning in life in the context of childhood trauma.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- On the meaning of "plasticity" in neuroscience and mental health research and its relation to the action of psychedelic therapy.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Exploring MDMA assisted therapy in eating disorders: mechanisms, clinical evidence, and future directions.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Review
- Psychedelic use in Poland: prevalence, correlates and social attitudes.Postepy psychiatrii neurologii · 2025Article
- A biopsychosocial model of MDMA-assisted therapy in application: Dyadic One Session Treatment for specific phobia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Structural Neuroimaging of Hippocampus and Amygdala Subregions in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Scoping Review.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
- MDMA-Based Psychotherapy in Treatment-Resistant Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Brief Narrative Overview of Current Evidence.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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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