New developments are emerging in the effort to help millions of people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, including our veterans.
The FDA is set to issue a decision by August 11 on the use of MDMA as a potential therapy. There’s been a lot of debate over the quality of the studies that have been done, so far.
Dr. Neil Puri, Director of Outpatient Services at Houston’s Menninger Clinic specializes in treatment-resistant disorders.
“We need novel treatments for PTSD to alleviate suffering,” Dr. Puri said.
He added the jury is still out on MDMA as a potential treatment, because conventional treatments have decades worth of research that consistently prove their benefits. Though some of the research on MDMA, so far, shows a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms including changes in the region of the brain that controls emotional response.
“Some of those PTSD symptom reductions can last for a good amount of time. There are still so many unknowns from the research, in terms of side effects. While you might be improving PTSD, are there other psychiatric symptoms that are also improving or potentially worsening?” Dr. Puri said.
For the first time since the 1960′s, the Department of Veteran Affairs is funding research on psychedelic compounds. Expanding this type of research to address veteran mental health is also in line with calls from Veteran Service Organizations.
To see how ketamine therapy is being used to treat depression for patients at the Menninger Clinic, click here.