Pharmacological Enhancement of Treatment - Essay Example

Exposure therapy is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Notwithstanding its efficacy, there is room for improvement, since a large proportion of patients does not benefit from treatment. Recently, an interesting new direction in the improvement of exposure therapy efficacy for PTSD emerged. Basic research found evidence of the pharmacological enhancement of the underlying learning and memory processes of exposure therapy. The current review aims to give an overview of clinical studies on the pharmacological enhancement of exposure-based treatment for PTSD.

The working mechanisms, efficacy studies in PTSD patients, and clinical utility of four different pharmacological enhancers will be discussed: d-cycloserine, MDMA, hydrocortisone, and propranolol.Michael C. Mithoefer, M.D. (2014). A Manual for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress DisorderBefore MDMA became used recreationally under the street name Ecstasy, hundreds of psychiatrists and psychotherapists around the world administered MDMA as a catalyst to psychotherapy.

MDMA was criminalized in the US in 1985 (it had been illegal in the UK since 1977). Several decades later, this study is the first completed randomised, double-blinded clinical trial to evaluate MDMA as a therapeutic adjunct in any patient population. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards and Melissa Conrad Stöppler. (2014). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Roxanne Dryden-Edwards and Melissa Conrad Stöppler. (2014). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)