MDMA-assisted Cognitive Processing Therapy Versus Cognitive Processing Therapy for Veterans With Severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Participants will receive a flexible divided-dose of MDMA HCl plus therapy at three Experimental Sessions, as well as non-drug Preparatory and Integration Sessions

Participants will receive 8-15 (average of 12) sessions of Cognitive Processing Therapy

Participants assigned to MDMA-aCPT will undergo a therapeutic approach administered by trained therapists. MDMA seems to engender internal awareness that even painful feelings that arise are an important part of the therapeutic process. MDMA can elicit feelings of empathy, love, and deep appreciation, along with a clearer perspective of the trauma as a past event, a more accurate perspective about its significance, and a heightened awareness of the support and safety that exists in the present. A combined treatment of MDMA and therapy may be especially useful for treating PTSD because MDMA can attenuate the fear response of a perceived threat to one's emotional integrity and decrease defensiveness without blocking access to memories or preventing a deep and genuine experience of emotion.