Högskolan i Skövde

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that is caused by exposure to traumatic or stressful events in life. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been shown to be an effective agent in drug-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. In this systematic review, we aim to evaluate the effect MDMA has on functional connectivity in healthy individuals and individuals with PTSD and investigate the potential mechanisms via which MDMA exerts its effects in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD patients. A total of 134 articles from Web of Science and Medline EBSCO were screened and 5 articles relevant for the systematic review were identified. After MDMA administration, an increase and decrease in functional connectivity in multiple brain areas and networks was observed, such as the thalamus, visual cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, default mode network, cerebellar network, sensorimotor network, salience network, and executive network. Notably, MDMA increased amygdala-hippocampal functional connectivity which may link to improved emotion regulation and fear extinction in patients receiving MDMA-assisted therapy. The findings evidence the complex effects of MDMA on brain connectivity and highlight the need for further research in this area, although MDMA-assisted therapy does prove to be a promising alternative for treating PTSD.