Research Report

MDMA (Ecstasy) Abuse Research Report
How are MDMA use disorders treated?

A doctor and patient in a therapy session
@iStock/vadimguzhva
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps patients recognize, avoid, and cope with the situations in which they are most likely to abuse drugs.

The most effective current treatments for patients with an MDMA use disorder are cognitive behavioral interventions that are designed to help modify the patient's thinking, expectancies, and behaviors, and to increase skills in coping with life's stressors. Recovery support groups may be effective in combination with behavioral interventions to support long-term recovery.

Although there are currently a number of medication targets that show promise in animal models122–124 and in some early clinical trials,125,126 there are currently no FDA-approved medications to treat MDMA use disorder.