The Mount Sinai Health System in New York City has announced a $5 million grant from the Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation in support of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and other psychedelic medicine approaches.

The multiyear grant will support efforts at the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to build and support training and education for therapists using methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, as a tool in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. The Bronx Veterans Medical Research Foundation, which is affiliated with James J. Peters VA Medical Center, a Mount Sinai affiliate, will serve as a secondary partner to the effort.

The initiative will focus on ensuring that, after the anticipated FDA approval of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, clinicians will be properly trained and certified as quickly as possible to provide the treatment. The grant also will fund the development of protocols to deliver MDMA in the context of group psychotherapy for veterans with PTSD and establish a postgraduate fellowship program and support the center's MINDSET lecture series.

"A major bottleneck in the emerging field of psychedelics is in the training and education of therapists in community-based settings such as the VA," said Rachel Yehuda, director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research. "The gift from the Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation allows us to leverage the knowledge obtained in our clinical trials at the VA and Mount Sinai toward training a diverse group of therapists with expertise in treating PTSD in real-world clinical settings."

"Millions of people are trapped in an all-too-silent battle with PTSD, and current treatments are not enough. Personally, I've tried a number of different treatments and found psychedelic-assisted therapy to be the most effective. It's a gamechanger. Now, fifty years after the war, I've finally come home," said Bob Parsons, a U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran, Purple Heart recipient, and founder and CEO of PXG. "I want this to be true for all veterans battling PTSD. It's time to bring them home."

(Image credit: Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research)