Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Matters Arising
  • Published:

Challenges with benchmarking of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy

Nature Medicine volume 27, pages 1689–1690 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Matters Arising to this article was published on 11 October 2021

The Original Article was published on 10 May 2021

arising from J. M. Mitchell et al. Nature Medicine https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01336-3 (2021)

To represent a treatment breakthrough, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) should be evaluated against first-line psychological interventions or for prespecified patient subgroups that do not improve after such interventions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Mitchell, J. M. et al. MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01336-3 (2021).

  2. American Psychological Association. Clinical practice Guideline for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adults 1st edn (APA, 2017).

  3. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. NIC Guideline [NG116] (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2018).

  4. Lee, D. J. et al. Psychotherapy versus pharmacotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: Systemic review and meta- analyses to determine first-line treatments. Depress. Anxiety 33, 792–806 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Mavranezouli, I. et al. Psychological treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults: a network meta-analysis. Psychol. Med. 50, 542–555 (2020). 130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Karatzias, T. et al. Psychological interventions for ICD-11 complex PTSD symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol. Med. 49, 1761–1775 (2019). 133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ehlers, A. et al. A randomized controlled trial of 7-day intensive and standard weekly cognitive therapy for PTSD and emotion-focused supportive therapy. Am. J. Psychiatry 171, 294–304 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Springer, K. S., Levy, H. C. & Tolin, D. F. Remission in CBT for adult anxiety disorders: a meta analysis. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 61, 1–8 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Resick, P. A., Williams, L. F., Suvak, M. K., Monson, C. M. & Gradus, J. L. Long-term outcomes of cognitive-behavioral treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder among female rape survivors. J. Consulting Clin. Psychol. 80, 201–210 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Schenk, S. & Newcombe, D. Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in psychiatry: pros, cons, and suggestions. J. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 38, 632–638 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    Joar Øveraas Halvorsen

  2. St. Olav’s Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

    Joar Øveraas Halvorsen

  3. CHU Rennes, INSERM CIC 1414 (Centre d’Investigation Clinique de Rennes), University Rennes, Rennes, France

    Florian Naudet

  4. Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Ioana A. Cristea

Authors
  1. Joar Øveraas Halvorsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Florian Naudet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ioana A. Cristea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J. Ø. H. and I. A. C. conceptualized the main arguments, and J. Ø. H. wrote the first draft. J. Ø. H., F. N. and I. A. C. contributed substantially to the revisions of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joar Øveraas Halvorsen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Halvorsen, J.Ø., Naudet, F. & Cristea, I.A. Challenges with benchmarking of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Nat Med 27, 1689–1690 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01525-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01525-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing