ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2022
Altered brain activity and functional connectivity after MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02102802 (Exploring Mechanisms of Action of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Exploring Mechanisms of Action of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)- Assisted Psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Functional brain changes after alternative pharmacological interventions in posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of clinical trials.Brain and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Self-compassion mediates treatment effects in MDMA-assisted therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Trial
- Negative Affect Circuit Subtypes and Neural, Behavioral, and Affective Responses to MDMA: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Investigating the Contribution of Molecular-Enriched Functional Connectivity to Brain-Age Analysis.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Mild concussion impairs extinction of avoidance and alters respective brain circuits in male rats.Experimental neurology · 2026Article
- Psilocybin Prolongs the Neurovascular Coupling Response in Mouse Visual Cortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Dissociable effects of LSD and MDMA on striato-cortical connectivity in healthy subjects.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Disrupted Energetic and Entropic Landscape in Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment: Insights From Network Control Theory.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Investigating the Contribution of Molecular-Enriched Functional Connectivity to Brain-Age Analysis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The psychedelic-peptide paradox: a hormetic hypothesis.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- Is there a place for psychedelics in sports practice?Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2025Review
- Neuroimaging in post-traumatic stress disorder: a narrative review.Archives of medical science : AMS · 2025Article
- Psychedelic iatrogenic structural dissociation: an exploratory hypothesis on dissociative risks in psychedelic use.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Novel psychedelic interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder and their promise for precision medicine.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Review
- Brain Networks, Neurotransmitters and Psychedelics: Towards a Neurochemistry of Self-Awareness.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2024Review
- A computational model elucidating mechanisms and variability in theta burst stimulation responses.Journal of computational neuroscience · 2024Article
- Psychedelic therapies reconsidered: compounds, clinical indications, and cautious optimism.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- The serotonergic psychedelic N,N-dipropyltryptamine alters information-processing dynamics in in vitro cortical neural circuits.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- MDMA for PTSD and beyond: a new paradigm brings hope.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Introduction: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has demonstrated promise in multiple clinical trials. MDMA is hypothesized to facilitate the therapeutic process, in part, by decreasing fear response during fear memory processing while increasing extinction learning. The acute administration of MDMA in healthy controls modifies recruitment of brain regions involved in the hyperactive fear response in PTSD such as the amygdala, hippocampus, and insula. However, to date there have been no neuroimaging studies aimed at directly elucidating the neural impact of MDMA-AT in PTSD patients. Methods: We analyzed brain activity and connectivity via functional MRI during both rest and autobiographical memory (trauma and neutral) response before and two-months after MDMA-AT in nine veterans and first-responders with chronic PTSD of 6 months or more. Results: We hypothesized that MDMA-AT would increase amygdala-hippocampus resting-state functional connectivity, however we only found evidence of a trend in the left amygdala-left hippocampus ( Discussion: Amygdala-insular functional connectivity is reliably implicated in PTSD and anxiety, and both regions are impacted by MDMA administration. These findings compliment previous research indicating that amygdala, hippocampus, and insula functional connectivity is a potential target of MDMA-AT, and highlights other regions of interest related to memory processes. More research is necessary to determine if these findings are specific to MDMA-AT compared to other types of treatment for PTSD. Clinical trial registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02102802, identifier NCT02102802.
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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.