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Evaluation ViewAttendees 8

Treatment - Other
Symposia

Symposium 37 - Understanding the Experiences of Providers and Patients in Psychedelic-Assisted CBTs

Friday, November 15, 2024
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM EST
Location: 401/402, Level 4, Downtown Marriott
CE: 1

Keywords: Treatment Development, CBT, Psychotherapy Process
Level of Familiarity: Basic to moderate
Recommended Readings: Rothbaum, B. O., & Maples-Keller, J. L. (2023). The promise of 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in combination with prolonged exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology: official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 48(1), 255-256.,   Luoma, J. B., Sabucedo, P., Eriksson, J., Gates, N., & Pilecki, B. C. (2019). Toward a contextual psychedelic-assisted therapy: perspectives from acceptance and commitment therapy and contextual behavioral science. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 14, 136-145.,   Yaden, D. B., Earp, D., Graziosi, M., Friedman-Wheeler, D., Luoma, J. B., & Johnson, M. W. (2022). Psychedelics and psychotherapy: cognitive-behavioral approaches as default. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 873279.,   Morland, L. (2023). MDMA-assisted Brief Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD (MDMA-bCBCT). Clinical trial registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05979844.,   Armstrong, S. B., Levin, A. W., Xin, Y., Horan, J. C., Luoma, J., Nagib, P., ... & Davis, A. K. (2023). Differences in attitudes and beliefs about psychedelic-assisted therapy among social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists in the United States. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 7(S1), 61-67.

Psychedelic-assisted therapies are emerging as breakthrough innovations in mental health care. When paired with evidence-based therapy, psychedelic medicines have been shown to improve mental health outcomes across populations and disorders. Despite the growing research base and widespread public interest, many gaps remain in establishing how these treatments will be implemented and integrated into existing models of care. Ensuring that all people, including people from underserved communities and backgrounds, will have access to effective psychedelic-assisted therapies requires understanding the experiences of both patients and providers involved in these treatments. Existing research has focused primarily on quantitative outcome data, which leaves important questions unanswered regarding what participants and therapists experience when providing, accessing, and receiving psychedelic-assisted therapy. To that end, this symposium presents qualitative and implementation data from three studies of psychedelic-assisted cognitive-behavioral therapies. Presenter 1 will present qualitative data from participants in a ketamine-assisted therapy group for gender expansive individuals. Presenter 2 will present qualitative data from therapists providing psychedelic integration to clients in the community and discuss how CBT can be used to address common challenges. Presenter 3 will discuss initial recruitment, implementation, and feasibility data from an open pilot trial of MDMA-assisted cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for PTSD in the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Finally, our Discussant, the developer of a model of MDMA-assisted Prolonged Exposure therapy, will serve as discussant to address how we can use this qualitative information to inform the development and delivery of psychedelic-assisted cognitive-behavioral therapies.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Explain why cognitive-behavioral therapies can and should be used in conjunction with psychedelic-assisted therapy.
  2. Describe the experiences of diverse patients who receive psychedelic-assisted CBT, DBT, and ACT.
  3. List at least 3 systemic barriers to psychedelic-assisted therapy experienced by patients and providers.
  4. Propose tangible solutions for increasing access to psychedelic-assisted therapy amongst diverse patient populations.
  5. Summarize the state of existing research on psychedelic-assisted CBTs.

Presentations:

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM EST
    (SYM 37) Using CBT to Address Common Challenges in Psychedelic-assisted Therapy: Results from a Qualitative Study of Psychedelic Therapists

    Speaker: Brian Pilecki, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Portland Psychotherapy

    Co-author: Odin Solvang Elvenes, MA (he/him/his) – The Arctic University of Norway

    Co-author: Christina Chwyl, MA (she/her/hers) – Portland Psychotherapy

    Co-author: Jason B. Luoma, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, & Training Center

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM EST
    (SYM 37) Qualitative Interviews with Transgender and Gender Expansive Clients of Group-based Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

    Speaker: Rachel L. Golden, Ph.D. (they/she)

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM EST
    (SYM 37) Initial Implementation Findings from the First Open Pilot Trial of Mdma-assisted Conjoint Therapy for PTSD in the VA Healthcare System

    Speaker: Leslie Morland, PsyD (she/her/hers) – San Diego VA

    Co-author: Leslie Morland, PsyD (she/her/hers) – San Diego VA

    Co-author: Kayla Knopp, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – VA San Diego Healthcare System/University of California, San Diego

    Co-author: Dimitri Perivoliotis, PhD (he/him/his) – VA San Diego Healthcare System/UCSD

    Co-author: Chandra E. Khalifian, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – VA San Diego Healthcare System

    Co-author: Wachsman Tamara, B.A. (she/her/hers) – VA San Diego Healthcare System

    Co-author: Chargin Bette, B.A. (she/her/hers) – VA San Diego Healthcare System

    Co-author: Andrew Bismark, PhD (he/him/his) – VA San Diego Healthcare System

    Co-author: Dhakshin Ramanathan, MD (he/him/his) – VA San Diego Healthcare System/UCSD

    Co-author: Anne C. Wagner, Ph.D. – Remedy + Remedy Institute

    Co-author: Chris Stauffer, MD (he/him/his) – VA Portland Medical Center

    Co-author: Shirley Glynn, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – VA/UCLA

    Co-author: Al Alam, MD (he/him/his) – VA San Diego Healthcare System