The Effects of MDMA on Prefrontal and Amygdala Activation in PTSD. - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

  • Changes in PTSD symptoms, which will be measured by The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale 5 (CAPS-5). [ Time Frame: Baseline, Initial Drug Dose and Second Drug Dose, 24 hours and 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses PTSD symptoms. It is a structured interview that consists of 30 items. Items are rated using a 0 to 4 severity scale. In addition to assessing the 20 DSM-5 PTSD symptoms, questions target the onset and duration of symptoms, subjective distress, impact of symptoms on social and occupational functioning, improvement in symptoms since a previous CAPS administration, overall response validity, overall PTSD severity, and specifications for the dissociative subtype (depersonalization and derealization. Higher scores indicate more severe PTSD symptoms.


  • Changes in depression symptoms, which will be measured by The Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). [ Time Frame: Baseline, Initial Drug Does and Second Drug Dose, 24 hours after initial and second drug dose, 3 and 5 days after initial and second drug dose (by phone), 1 week after initial and second drug dose, 15, 17, 19, and 21 days after second drug dose (phone). ]

    Assesses depression symptoms. Consists of 21 items and uses a 0 to 3 severity scale. Total scores range from 0 to 63, with higher scores indicating more severe depression.


  • Changes in sleep patterns, which will be measured by The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 24 hours after first and second drug dose, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses the quality and patterns of sleep in adults. It differentiates "poor" from "good" sleep quality by measuring seven areas (components): subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction over the last month. Items are rated using a 0 to 3 scale. The component scores are summed to produce a global score (range 0 to 21). Higher scores indicate worse sleep quality.


  • Changes in PTSD symptoms, which will be measured by The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 24 hours after initial and second drug dose, 3 and 5 days after initial and second drug dose (phone), 1 week after initial and second drug dose, 15, 17, 19, and 21 days after second drug dose (phone). ]

    Assesses PTSD symptoms. It is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses the 20 DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD. Items are rated using a 0 to 4 scale. Total scores range from 0 to 80, with higher scores indicating more severe PTSD symptoms.


  • Changes in personality traits, which will be measured by The NEO Personality Inventory - Revised (NEO PI-R). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses changes in personality traits. It is a personality inventory that examines a person's Big Five personality traits. It consist of 240 items that assess 30 specific traits, which in turn define the five factors: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness to Experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C). Items are rated on a five-point Likert scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree.


  • Changes in mental states, which will be measured The 5-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness Scale (5D-ASC). [ Time Frame: Initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses different mental states induced by the interventions. Consists of 94 items which are rated by placing marks on a horizontal visual analogue scale (100 millimeters in length). The scale ranges from no, not more than usual (on the left) to yes, very much more than usual (on the right). The items are scored by measuring the millimeters from the low end of the scale to the participant's mark (from 0 to 100).


  • Changes in growth following a traumatic event, which will be measured by The Post traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 24 hours after initial and second drug dose, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses positive outcomes reported by persons who have experienced traumatic events. It is a 21-item scale that includes factors of New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strength, Spiritual Change, and Appreciation of Life. Participants are asked to rate the degree to which this change occurred in their life as a result of the crisis/disaster. Each item is rated from 0 (I did not experience this change as a result of my crisis) to 5 (I experienced this change to a very great degree as a result of my crisis). Total score is calculated by summing all items. Individual factors are scored by adding responses to items on each factor. Higher scores indicate greater growth.


  • Changes in well-being, which will be measured by The Well-Being Inventory (WBI). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses well-being across life domains and such as work, finances, health, and social relationships. Participants are first asked questions about their level of functioning in each domain. Items are rated from 1 (never) to 5 (most or all of the time). Then they are asked questions about their satisfaction in each domain. Items are rated from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied). Higher total scores indicate greater well-being.


  • Changes in psychological inflexibility/experiential avoidance, which will be measured by The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II (AAQ-II). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 1 Week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses psychological inflexibility/experiential avoidance. Participants are asked to rate how true each statement is for them. Items are rated from 1 (never true) to 7 (always true). Higher scores equal greater levels of psychological inflexibility.


  • Changes in emotional regulation, which will be measured by The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). [ Time Frame: Baseline, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Assesses emotional regulation. A 10-item scale designed to measure respondents' tendency to regulate their emotions in two ways: (1) Cognitive Reappraisal and (2) Expressive Suppression. Participants answer each item on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The higher the scores the greater the use of the emotion regulation strategy.


  • Changes in cognitive and emotional empathy, which will be measured by the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). [ Time Frame: Baseline, Initial and Second Drug Dose, 24 hours after initial and second drug dose, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Measures cognitive and emotional empathy simultaneously and independently using a series of photorealistic stimuli computer based tasks.


  • Changes in the quality of specific relationships in terms of supportive and conflictual dynamics will be assessed with the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI) [ Time Frame: Baseline, Initial and Second Drug Dose, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    The 25 question task assesses the contemporary quality of specific relationships (between the patient and a specific individual, such as a family member) at a particular point in time in terms of conflict, support, and depth. It uses a Likert-type 4 point scale going from "1" indicating the item does not apply at all, while "4" indicates the item applies quite a lot.


  • Cognitive schemas about oneself and others, will be assessed by the Trauma and Attachment Beliefs Scale (TABS) [ Time Frame: Baseline ]

    The 84 item self-report scale, which measures responses on a 1-6 scale (1 = "Disagree Strongly, 6 = Agree Strongly) the degree to which respondents believe the statements correspond with their own beliefs. The measures of these beliefs relate to self-safety, other-safety, self-trust, other-trust, self-esteem, other-esteem, self-intimacy, other-intimacy, self-control, and other control.


  • Brain injury will be assessed for with the CogState Neuropsychological Test [ Time Frame: Baseline, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    Brain injuries associated with traumatic events, such as concussions, will be screened for in the CogState Neuropsychological Test, a standard computerized test used to assess neuropsychological deficits associated with brain injury.


  • Moral injury, or the sense of distress due to contradiction of deeply-held beliefs due to a traumatic event, will be measured by the Moral Injury Events Scale (MIES) [ Time Frame: Baseline, Initial and Second Drug Dose, 24 hours after initial and second drug dose, 1 week after initial and second drug dose. ]

    This 9 item self-report scale measures the moral injury, or distress due to the contradiction to a deeply-held belief about the world that often accompanies a traumatic incident. The injury is assessed in terms of "perceived transgression" and "perceived betrayal." Items are assessed with a Likert-type Scale (1 to 6, 1 = "strongly disagree," 6 = "strongly agree," with no neutral option). Higher scores indicate greater severity of associated event.


  • Changes in concept and sense of existential meaning will be measured with the Purpose and Meaning scale (PIL) [ Time Frame: Baseline, 1 week after second drug dose. ]

    Measures evaluation of the sense of existential purpose and enthusiasm for life in a three part self-report survey. Part A is a 20 point scale test which uses a 1-7 scale in which low number answers correspond attitudes such as boredom and directionless-ness. Parts B and C are not empirically useful, but ask for participants to completes sentences and compose a paragraph respectively. Higher scores indicate a greater existential sense of purpose, with scores above 113 indicate a high degree of purpose, scores below 92 suggesting a lack of purpose, and scores between 92 and 112 indicate moderate levels of purpose.


  • Changes in depression symptoms, which will be measured Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). [ Time Frame: Baseline, Initial and Second Drug Dose, 24 hours after initial and second drug dose, 1 week after initial and second administration. ]

    Assesses depression symptoms. Consists of 10 items and uses a 0 to 6 severity scale. Total scores range from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating more severe depression.


  • https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03752918