There's roughly 9 to 10 million people
in America that have PTSD.
And there's many, many millions of them
that are severe, chronic,
treatment-resistant PTSD.
And what that means is that
there are a lot of people
that have posttraumatic stress disorder
for whom the currently
available medications
and psychotherapies don't work.
(gentle soothing music)
- I think the world, in
general, is overwhelmed
and our available treatment
options are limited
and can only reach so many people.
And I think psychedelics hold a promise
for bringing a lot more healing
to larger numbers of people.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
is unique among trauma treatments,
in that it allows the participants,
or the patients to access their traumas
in a way that they aren't overwhelmed
by their past experiences.
They can address their
fear around their trauma.
- I started MAPS in 1986
as a non-profit psychedelic
pharmaceutical company
with the goal of taking MDMA
through the regulatory system
to make it into a prescription medicine.
Now we're at this point where,
32 years after MAPS was started,
we're about to start Phase 3.
And Phase 3 is the
final stage of research
to make a drug into a medicine,
to prove safety and efficacy.
(light piano music)
- We completed six Phase 2 clinical trials.
We see over time that symptoms improve
after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
immediately after a few treatments,
but then when we follow up
12 months later, we see that even a greater
number of participants
no longer meet criteria for PTSD.
(light piano music)
- In August of 2017,
we got Breakthrough Therapy
designation from the FDA
for the most promising drugs
and then since that point
we've been doing fundraising
and training of more therapists.
We anticipate by 2021,
that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD
will be available legally by prescription.
- What I learned from my
experience in the MDMA
training study as a participant,
is that people with PTSD,
and people who don't have
PTSD, aren't that different.
In the right conditions,
the psyche moves towards wholeness.
The psyche moves towards healing.
Basically what we want
to do is to mainstream
psychedelic medicine
and make that available
to people who have a wide range
of clinical indications,
and with your help,
together, we can do it.
(gentle soothing music)
