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Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Military and Veterans Healthcare Systems: Clinical, Legal, and Implementation Considerations.

Current psychiatry reports
October 1, 2023
Aaron S Wolfgang et al. (2 authors)
Journal ArticleReviewHuman Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to evaluate the clinical, legal, and implementation considerations of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD within DoD and VA healthcare systems.

Results Summary

MDMA-assisted therapy demonstrated promising outcomes in efficacy, safety, tolerability, and durability for PTSD, with FDA Expanded Access approval and full approval projected for 2024. The VA is conducting clinical trials, though implementation barriers such as resource requirements and clinical hours remain.

Population

Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare systems, particularly patients with PTSD.

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (2)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy
increase
efficacy, safety, tolerability, and durability for PTSD
-
-
have shown promising outcomes
#1
psilocybin-assisted therapy
increase
efficacy, safety, tolerability, and durability for depression
-
-
have shown promising outcomes
#2
Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review discusses the current and projected landscape of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), with a focus on clinical, legal, and implementation considerations in Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare systems. RECENT FINDINGS: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)- and psilocybin-assisted therapy have shown promising outcomes in efficacy, safety, tolerability, and durability for PTSD and depression, respectively. MDMA-assisted therapy is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on an Expanded Access ("compassionate use") basis for PTSD, with full approval projected for 2024. Psilocybin-assisted therapy is projected to be FDA-approved for depression soon thereafter. Other psychedelics are in earlier stages of development. The VA is currently conducting PAT clinical trials. Although there are clear legal pathways for the VA and DoD to conduct PAT trials, a number of implementation barriers exist, such as the very high number of clinical hours necessary to treat each patient, resource requirements to support treatment infrastructure, military-specific considerations, and the high level of evidence necessary for PAT to be recommended in clinical practice guidelines. Ongoing considerations are whether and how PAT will be made available to VA and DoD beneficiaries, feasibility and cost-effectiveness, and ethical safeguards that must be implemented to prioritize access to PAT given the likelihood of extremely limited initial availability. However, with imminent FDA approval of PATs and considerable national interest in these treatments, DoD and VA policymakers must be prepared with clearly delineated policies and plans for how these healthcare systems will approach PAT.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
United StatesHumansVeteransHallucinogensN-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetaminePsilocybinUnited States Department of Veterans AffairsDelivery of Health Care
Study Links
Quality Scores
Safety80
Efficacy85/10
Quality90/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations5
Citations/Year2.5
Relative Citation Ratio1.04
NIH Percentile51.7%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score2.89
Normalized Score0.84
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