MDMA-assisted therapy in Denver
A recent FDA panel advised against the approval of MDMA for therapeutic use, making it highly unlikely that MDMA-assisted therapy will be available anytime in the near future. If it’s ever approved by the FDA, MDMA-assisted therapy would be available throughout the U.S.
Schedule in-person Ketamine-assisted therapy session with one of our therapists. If you live outside of Colorado or in a rural area outside of the Denver area, remote Ketamine therapy options like Mindbloom are also available.
Learn how people can heal from PTSD and transform their minds with psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Note: We’re therapists, not a medical clinic or research facility. We don’t provide free sessions, microdosing, “trip sitting,” or psychedelic guiding, but we’ve done more Ketamine-assisted therapy sessions than nearly every private practice in Denver.
MDMA-assisted therapy will not be a low-cost therapy option and is unlikely to be covered by insurance or Medicaid. Due to anticipated treatment protocols that include sessions over a 3-month period, studies suggest that a complete treatment program will cost over $11,000.
How does MDMA-assisted psychotherapy work?
While MDMA (also known as Molly) is commonly known as a recreational drug, it has a history of therapeutic uses as well. It acts as a stimulant to give your brain an energizing effect that heightens your senses and enhances your emotions.
MDMA can help people produce feelings of togetherness and empathy, which can help break through the emotional walls that hold people back from sharing and exploring their emotions. A recent study showed that patients who received MDMA-assisted therapy experienced significant reductions in PTSD symptoms severity and brain activity after just 2 months.
Similar to how Ketamine can be used in therapy, MDMA in a therapeutic setting can help individuals process and heal from experiences that they haven’t been able to treat using traditional therapy, EMDR, and other methods. However, while Ketamine therapy has at-home treatment options, MDMA-assisted therapy sessions will likely only be in-person only for longer sessions, which will make it more expensive.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is currently in clinical trials with the FDA, more specifically for people with PTSD, a condition that affects about 3.5% of American adults. In this phase, the new treatment is being compared against the current standard treatment based on safety and efficacy. In 2017, the FDA declared that MDMA’s beneficial effects on PTSD was “breakthrough therapy,” a designation later applied to psilocybin therapy as well.
While MDMA-assisted therapy isn’t available outside of clinical trials today in the United States or more specifically in Colorado, many experts believed that MDMA-assisted therapy for treating PTSD would be approved by the FDA in 2024, sooner than psilocybin-assisted therapy. However, an FDA panel recently advised against approving MDMA for therapeutic use.
If MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is ever approved by the FDA, we’ll be among the first therapists in Denver to legally offer it to our Colorado-based clients, but it appears unlikely at the current time.
For those seeking help for treatment-resistant conditions sooner because MDMA-assisted therapy isn’t available yet, including depression and trauma, many of our therapists already are trained in Ketamine-assisted therapy, and we can connect you with qualified medical professionals who can help you build your path to healing and lasting change.
How MDMA can change your mind
MDMA-assisted therapy is one of many new, highly effective ways to help people improve their mental health. While MDMA-assisted therapy isn’t available just yet, these types of therapy methods are becoming more popular and closer to being approved in the United States.
If you’re interested in learning more about it, this video from Vice goes into how MDMA therapy can change your mind, and change your life.
What is MDMA-assisted therapy like?
MDMA causes your brain to release neurotransmitters, which are chemical messengers that can change your brain’s activity. After you take MDMA, you can experience increased feelings of empathy, awareness, energy, anxiety, sensory pleasure, along with decreased anxiety. Experts believe that these effects can help people who have PTSD share more difficult emotions and have more self-reflection.
When you use MDMA in a therapy, you may feel a temporary feeling of relief and release from the things that you have negative feelings around and are even fearful of. Because of the way MDMA works, you may feel more positive emotions towards yourself and the people in your life.
It’s important to know that MDMA-assisted therapy is very different from taking recreational ecstacy—recreational drugs don’t have the same therapeutic effects and may contain other drugs or ingredients that can be dangerous.
We’ve seen powerful results with our clients who have used Ketamine-assisted therapy, and MDMA can help people stay calm when accessing intense memories or experiences. Without fear holding you back, you’re able to tap into and safely explore emotions and memories that you may normally avoid or hold closely.
When you can do this in a safe space with a trained therapist, you may be able process difficult experiences in ways that you never felt like you could before. This can help you look at situations more objectively, without the emotions and feelings of fear that can take over the way you normally would approach a situation, memory, or scenario.
By doing this, you’re able to have the space to heal without being controlled by an emotion or in fear of a traumatic experience. Researchers have said that MDMA-assisted therapy may be more beneficial than any other type of therapy or medication for PTSD that’s used today.
What is MDMA used for in therapy?
Current clinical trials for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy are testing how MDMA can help treat severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). So far, it has been shown to be extremely effective with people participating in these trials.
An overwhelming majority of trial participants with severe PTSD, over 80%, have experienced significant benefits from MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. After a year, a study found that 67% of participants no longer have PTSD, which is extremely promising to the long-term effects of this kind of treatment.
Once MDMA-assisted therapy is approved by the FDA, you still must be physically cleared by a trained medical professional before you can qualify to take it for therapy in Colorado.
Many people experience PTSD for years, and the potential to be able to heal from trauma in just a few sessions could be life-changing for the millions of people who have PTSD. While MDMA (often called Molly) has been proven to be very effective for PTSD so far, its uses could expand as research and trial continue to explore how it can help treat other conditions.
How much will MDMA-assisted therapy cost?
There’s significant and building demand for MDMA-assisted therapy, but few people realize how much it will cost. A recent study estimated that MDMA-assisted therapy will cost $11,537, based on the following treatment protocol:
- Three 90-minute preparatory psychotherapy sessions
- Three 8-hour MDMA-assisted therapy sessions
- Nine 90-minute integrative psychotherapy sessions.
As a point of comparison, eight Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions cost $4,000.
Even with these costs, the study concluded that MDMA-assisted therapy still provides patients with severe or extreme chronic PTSD with a cost-saving from a payer’s perspective, while delivering substantial clinical benefit.
How long does MDMA-assisted
therapy take?
Unlike traditional therapy, an MDMA-assisted psychotherapy session can take up to 8 hours. Most treatment protocols in clinical testing have involved a 3-4 month commitment that includes traditional talk therapy and MDMA-assisted sessions. MDMA-assisted therapy will not be a “one and done” therapy treatment, and it will not be a low-cost therapy option.
At each session, you take a tablet or capsule to swallow, and it’ll take effect in about 45-60 minutes. Also, instead of seeing a therapist one on one, you could see see two trained therapists at the same time over the course of about 4 sessions that you have during multiple months.
Depending on how you respond to MDMA-assisted therapy, this may dramatically decrease the amount of time that you’re seeing a therapist. This makes it not only potentially more effective, but more efficient to help you heal from trauma and PTSD.
Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.
Rachel Naomi Remen
Meet our therapists
My Denver Therapy is one of the largest woman-owned therapy private practices in Colorado with many of the best, most requested mental health therapists in the Denver Metro area.
As a therapist-owned practice with decades of combined experience, we care about seeing our clients heal, grow, and thrive. We’re one of the only therapy practices in Colorado with licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, addiction counselors, social workers, and psychiatric nurse practitioners who actively see new clients. Whether you’re an adult, teen, young adult, couple, or family, our inclusive therapist team is built to specialize in you.
Our practice started with one therapist in a shared office suite, but we’ve grown to help thousands of people in Colorado by providing in-person therapy at our conveniently located Denver Metro area counseling offices in Denver, Greenwood Village, and Lone Tree, plus online therapy for clients throughout Colorado. Because of the way our team works, our therapists also provide consultation for other therapists and private practices in the Denver Metro area.
Our inclusive therapists provide some of the most innovative, effective, and in-demand forms of therapy available today, including EMDR, Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, CBT, and IFS. We also have more therapists trained in Ketamine-assisted therapy, EMDR, and more teen therapists and young adult counselors than nearly every other private practice in Denver.
We know that clients want to find the best therapists in Denver, so our team includes therapists with different backgrounds, specialities, and experiences to help you find the right fit. We’ll match you with one of our therapists who is the best for your goals, location, budget, and schedule to help you get started quickly.
We’re out of network for insurance, Tricare, and are unable to take Medicaid, but most of our therapists’ rates are lower than the local and national averages for therapy.
All of our therapists take a client-focused approach to counseling and approach each session with a commitment to your progress and growth.
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