
Media Release: MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for bushfire victims - Fast-tracked access needed for breakthrough PTSD treatment
Announcement posted by Mind Medicine Australia 13 Feb 2020
It is estimated that 800,000 Australians suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Mental health experts predict this
staggering figure will rise sharply as a result of the trauma experienced by
families and first responders who have had their lives or safety threatened by
the catastrophic bushfires this summer.
In response to this mental health crisis, Mind
Medicine Australia (MMA) has called for the fast-tracking of access to
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD. MMA is a not-for-profit
organisation established to promote the development of research-backed and
regulatory-approved Medicine-Assisted Therapy in Australia.
Doctors typically treat people who have PTSD with psychotherapy and
pharmaceutical medicines. But the medications can often produce unpleasant side
effects and show a mere 20%-30% success rate for patients. Exposure therapy is
more successful, providing relief from PTSD in around half of cases. However,
the treatment process can be long and extremely gruelling, causing many
patients to drop out.
In contrast, recent clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the
United States have shown to relieve PTSD immediately after just three active dose
sessions for 54% of participants. A 2018 study specifically in first responders
and veterans showed that patients improved further at a 12-month follow up with
67% of them in remission. The results of a separate study showed than an astounding
76% of participants did not meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for PTSD a
year after the conclusion of treatment.
The research has been so promising that the American
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
Breakthrough Therapy status in 2017. The FDA is expected to give full
regulatory approval for the treatment in the next few years after the current
Phase 3 trials are completed. Earlier this month, however, an Expanded Access
Program was authorised by the FDA that permits the use of MDMA-assisted
psychotherapy in the United States this year, ahead of the conclusion of
clinical trials. Similarly, Israel, Switzerland, and Canada have recently begun
Compassionate Use Schemes that enable PTSD patients to access this therapy.
Peter Hunt AM, Chair of MMA, says that Australia
needs to follow the lead of these countries quickly. “These medicines have been proven to be very safe when used as
part of psychotherapy in a clinically controlled environment. The Australian Therapeutic Goods Act allows
the use of medicines which are not listed on the Therapeutic Goods Register
under the Special Access Scheme. Australia needs to act now and expedite the
availability of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through this program to relieve the
suffering of bushfire victims and others with PTSD.”
Tania de Jong AM, Executive Director of MMA, agrees
that an urgent shift in approach is needed. “The
Australian government has allocated $76 million for distress counselling and
mental health support for those affected by the bushfires. Despite the best of
intentions, the current treatment methods don’t help all people who have
developed PTSD. The evidence shows that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy not only
works but, in the long term, will also be highly cost-effective for
taxpayers.”
Bushfire-affected people who have developed PTSD may
experience ongoing feelings of panic or extreme fear. Without effective
treatment, the debilitating symptoms can last for many years or even a
lifetime. It is a condition that can act as a catalyst in a person for
depression, substance abuse, and suicide, and is linked to unemployment,
homelessness, and family violence.
Statistics show that 10% of first responders have
PTSD, and a third of them endure high psychological distress. They have
suicidal thoughts at twice the rate of adults in the general population, and
one first responder takes his or her own life every six weeks.
According to the Productivity Commission’s 2019
Mental Health Report, the total cost of mental illness and suicide to the
Australian economy is $180 billion per year.
MDMA used in Medicine-Assisted Therapy and within a
clinically controlled environment is not the street drug Ecstasy. Substances
sold illegally often have adulterants and are usually taken in risky settings
with high doses.
The medicine is not a cure in itself but a
facilitator for the therapeutic process. It decreases activity in the amygdala,
part of the brain associated with traumatic memory, and reduces fear and
defensiveness while increasing empathy, trust, and safety. Only two or three
active dose sessions are needed in contrast to antidepressant treatments that
usually require daily medications. Due to the ease of the treatment process,
patient adherence rates are much higher with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
compared to other psychotherapies, like exposure therapy.
Like MDMA, mounting clinical research indicates that
psilocybin, a naturally occurring compound derived from what is colloquially
known as magic mushrooms, can provide highly effective solutions for various
mental illnesses when used in a clinically controlled environment in
conjunction with psychotherapy. Studies show that both these medicines are
physiologically safe and are not addictive. Universities that have researched
these medicine-assisted psychotherapies include Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge,
NYU, Imperial College, Yale, and Kings College, among many others.
Mind Medicine Australia is co-funding Australia’s
first clinical trial of Medicine-Assisted Therapy at St Vincent’s Hospital in
Melbourne. Participating palliative care patients experiencing depression and
anxiety are being treated with psilocybin. Mind Medicine Australia anticipates
that more clinical trials will be announced at major research institutions in
Australia soon.
MMA was founded by social entrepreneurs Peter Hunt
AM and Tania de Jong AM following their successful experience setting up other
charities and working with people diagnosed with a mental illness. Visit mindmedicineaustralia.org for
comprehensive information about the organisation.
For all
media enquiries, including interviews and images, please contact:
Brad Grimshaw, Communications
Consultant
E: brad@mindmedicineaustralia.org M:
0476 230 970
Tania de Jong AM, Executive Director
E: tania@mindmedicineaustralia.org M: 0411
459 999