Veterans
Psychedelic treatments are emerging as promising therapeutic options for veterans dealing with mental health conditions, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment-resistant depression. Recent clinical trials highlight the efficacy of compounds such as MDMA and psilocybin in alleviating symptoms and improving overall quality of life.
Key Insights
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MDMA-assisted therapy has shown promise in reducing PTSD symptoms in veterans, allowing for meaningful therapeutic breakthroughs.
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Recent studies indicate that psilocybin may significantly improve depression symptoms in veterans with treatment-resistant depression.
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Therapeutic interventions combining psychedelics with psychotherapy are being explored as potentially transformative treatments for veterans.
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Ibogaine therapy has been investigated for veterans with traumatic brain injuries, showing potential in addressing accompanying mental health disorders.
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Increased interest in psychedelic-assisted therapies among veterans and their healthcare providers is fostering a new frontier in mental health treatment.
What is Veterans?
Veterans often experience a range of mental health issues, including PTSD, depression, and anxiety, resulting from combat-related trauma and other service-related stressors.
PTSD is characterised by intrusive memories, avoidance behaviours, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and marked alterations in arousal and reactivity. Treatment-resistant depression, prevalent among veterans, manifests as persistent sadness, lack of interest in activities, and difficulty in functioning.
The pathophysiology of PTSD and depression may involve dysregulated stress hormones, alterations in neurotransmitter systems, and structural changes in brain areas related to mood and cognition.
The high prevalence of mental health disorders in veterans underscores the pressing need for effective treatments, particularly for those who have not responded to traditional therapies.
Current Treatments
Standard-of-care treatments typically include psychotherapy (such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), pharmacotherapy (e.g., SSRIs, SNRIs), and complementary therapies, although many veterans struggle with treatment-resistance.
Psychedelic Effect Matrix
Compound efficacy and evidence levels for Veterans.
| Compound | Magnitude | Evidence | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| MDMA Multiple robust studies support significant symptom reduction in PTSD among veterans receiving MDMA-assisted therapy. | Large | High | Consistent |
| Psilocybin Strong evidence from recent trials suggests psilocybin is effective in treating major depressive disorder in veterans. | Large | High | Consistent |
| Ibogaine Emerging studies indicate benefit for veterans with traumatic brain injury, but more research is needed. | Medium | Moderate | Inconsistent |
MDMA and Veterans
MDMA-assisted therapy has been shown to produce substantial reductions in PTSD symptoms, promoting emotional openness and therapeutic engagement. Veterans undergoing MDMA treatment often report lasting improvements in their mental health, suggesting a powerful role for this compound in trauma recovery.
Psilocybin and Veterans
Psilocybin therapy offers a novel approach to treating depression in veterans, with evidence supporting its capacity to initiate profound psychological insights, emotional release, and cognitive shifts that may facilitate healing. Preliminary trials indicate that a single dose can lead to significant and sustained improvements in depressive symptoms.
Clinical Outlook
The future of psychedelic treatment for veterans appears bright, with ongoing and expanded clinical trials aiming to establish safety and efficacy. As regulatory frameworks progress and public interest grows, psychedelics could revolutionise the landscape of mental health care within the veteran community, offering hope where traditional therapies have failed.
Industrial Landscape
Key players in this field include the Veterans Affairs (VA), private companies such as MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), and several academic institutions leading clinical trials on the safety and efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Quick Indicators
Organisations
Search →Ohio State University
The Ohio State University is a public land-grant research university based in Columbus, Ohio, offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs and conducting research across many fields. It was founded as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College and serves as a major educational and economic institution in Ohio.
Resilient Pharmaceuticals
Resilient Pharmaceuticals (formerly Lykos Therapeutics, formerly MAPS PBC) is a US-based public benefit corporation developing MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. It was founded in 2014 by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) as a commercial spinout to carry MAPS’ three decades of MDMA research through late-stage trials and regulatory approval. After completing two Phase 3 trials and filing an NDA in 2024, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) in August 2024, citing concerns about functional unblinding, durability of response, safety reporting at two trial sites, and the challenge of blinding psychedelic studies. The CRL requested a third Phase 3 trial. Following the rejection, the company laid off approximately 75% of staff. In May 2025, billionaire investors Antonio Gracias (Gracias Foundation) and Sir Christopher Hohn (TCI Fund) led a $50 million Series B recapitalisation, installing new leadership: CEO Mike Burke and CMO Javier Muniz. Rick Doblin, MAPS’ founder, remains supportive of the new direction. The company rebranded from Lykos Therapeutics to Resilient Pharmaceuticals on 28 August 2025, and continues to negotiate a path to FDA approval for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.
MAPS
Nonprofit organizer and host of the Psychedelic Science conference series, alongside broader educational and policy programming.
Ketamine Research Institute
The Ketamine Research Institute is a US-based clinical research organization developing precision medicine approaches to ketamine infusion therapy, studying optimized dosing protocols to treat depression and offering clinician training in evidence-based ketamine practice.
Usona Institute
Usona Institute is a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit medical research organisation (MRO) headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Co-founded in 2014 by Bill Linton (CEO of Promega Corporation) and Malynn Utzinger, M.D., Usona was established after Linton witnessed the profound impact of a Johns Hopkins psilocybin study on a terminally ill friend. Unlike commercial drug developers, Usona operates as a mission-driven MRO — conducting and supporting pre-clinical and clinical research on psilocybin and other consciousness-expanding medicines, with the goal of developing accessible, affordable treatments. Its research leadership includes Dr. Charles Raison (Director of Clinical and Translational Research, UW-Madison psychiatrist) and Dr. Alexander Sherwood (medicinal chemist). Usona's psilocybin programme received FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for major depressive disorder in 2019. After completing the Phase 2 PSIL201 study (the largest Phase 2 randomised controlled trial of psilocybin for MDD at the time), the Institute launched the Phase 3 uAspire trial in 2024 — a 240-participant, randomised, double-blind, multicentre study comparing 25 mg psilocybin vs placebo in adults with MDD. Usona is also exploring 5-MeO-DMT in early-stage research.
University of Minnesota
The Nielson Lab at the University of Minnesota is dedicated to understanding and treating trauma. More recently, the team here has been diving into psychedelic neuroscience research and drug policy reform thanks to funding from the newly created Psychedelic-Assisted THerapy (PATH) Fund at the UMN Foundation. The lab has been collecting survey data to assess the benefits and risks of ayahuasca use in naturalistic settings to treat symptoms of trauma. Additionally, Dr Jessica Nielson and her team are researching the neurological mechanisms of altered states of consciousness and their role in promoting neuroplasticity and wellness in healthy research participants.
Johns Hopkins University
The Centre for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research focuses on how psychedelics affect behavior, cognition, brain function, and biological health markers. They have been at the forefront of demonstrating the safety and efficacy of psychedelics for mental disorders, expanding their focus into psilocybin research across multiple mental health conditions, including smoking cessation, major depressive disorder, and cancer-related anxiety.
Stanford University
At the Stanford School of Medicine, researchers from the Rodriguez Lab and the Heifets Lab have united under the banner of the Stanford Psychedelic Science Group. Their primary clinical focus is to investigate compounds including ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA as potential treatments for debilitating disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), treatment-resistant depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Oregon Health & Science University
Researchers at the Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy (SNAP) Lab at OHSU are investigating the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Dr Chris Stauffer, is the current director of the lab. SNAP Lab aims to maximize the benefits of therapeutic alliance and psychotherapy through the adjunct use of social psychopharmacology, such as oxytocin, MDMA, and psilocybin. Dr Stauffer led a research team from OHSU in a clinical trial exploring the effects of psilocybin in methamphetamine use disorder. With Oregon becoming the first state to legalize psilocybin-assisted therapy, more research is taking place at OHSU.
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
The Program in Psychedelic Research (PiPer) is a partnership between The Healthy Mind Lab, the Washington University Neuroimaging Lab, and Usona Institute. PiPer leverages 30 years of neuroimaging research and four decades of psychiatry research. The group has started with four research projects around neuroimaging data in humans and animals. The university also serves as a site for Usona's Phase II/III trial with 25mg of psilocybin.
AIM Youth Mental Health
AIM Youth Mental Health is a US non-profit foundation founded in 2014 that funds scientific research and youth-led participatory action research to improve mental health outcomes for young people. The organization funds psilocybin research—including a study on how psilocybin affects genetic aging markers in young adults with stress-related disorders—alongside fellowships for postdoctoral youth mental health innovators.
Baylor College of Medicine
Academic medical center in Houston affiliated with multiple Texas Medical Center hospitals. Conducts psilocybin and MDMA clinical trials for veteran PTSD in partnership with the Michael E. DeBakey VA, and houses the ELIPSIS program — a dedicated initiative on the ethical and legal implications of psychedelics in society.
People
Search →Eduardo Schenberg
Neuroscientist and founder/director of Instituto Phaneros
A leading Brazilian psychedelic researcher known for clinical and translational work on ayahuasca, ibogaine, MDMA, and ethics/policy in psychedelic medicine.
Anna Forsyth
Doctoral researcher / researcher at the University of Auckland
She is an author on multiple clinical studies of LSD microdosing in depression and related psychedelic psychiatry work, contributing to early human evidence on efficacy, tolerability, and mechanism.
Neşe Devenot
Senior Lecturer in the University Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University
Neşe Devenot is a notable critic and scholar of psychedelic medicine whose work examines ethics, public discourse, and the social meanings of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Jessica Maples-Keller
Associate Professor in the Emory School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Associate Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program
She is a prominent translational PTSD and psychedelic-therapy researcher contributing to MDMA and psilocybin studies, including work on fear extinction, treatment barriers, and culturally informed psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Michael Mithoefer
Senior Medical Director for Medical Affairs at MAPS PBC
Conducted the first FDA-approved clinical trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.
Alan Davis
Associate Professor of Social Work & Director, Center for Psychedelic Drug Research
Noted for advancing epidemiological, naturalistic and mixed-method research on therapeutic and adverse outcomes of psychedelics and for translating those findings into clinical and harm-reduction contexts.
Brandon Weiss
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Noted for empirical work on personality change and contextual moderators in psychedelic-assisted interventions and for contributions to safety and phenomenology research across ayahuasca and psilocybin studies.
Amy Emerson
CEO of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC) / former Director of Clinical Research at MAPS
Notable for her contributions to multi-centre clinical research on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, including dose‑response, neuroimaging, long‑term follow-up and phase‑3 trial design.
Nathan Sepeda
Director of Data & Analytics
Notable for his contributions to clinical and experimental studies of psilocybin-assisted interventions, including trials of major depressive disorder and investigations of enduring psychological and neurofunctional effects.
Gonzalo Ona
Clinical Researcher in Psychedelic Psychopharmacology
Notable for epidemiological and clinical research on ayahuasca use, safety and wellbeing outcomes, and exploratory pharmacological work on 5‑MeO‑DMT and psychedelic interactions.
Benjamin Kelmendi
Clinical Researcher
Kelmendi is an active contributor to contemporary clinical and preclinical investigations of novel entactogens and psychedelic-assisted approaches, with work spanning pharmacology, addiction treatment strategies and clinician attitudes toward psychedelic therapies.
Robin Carhart-Harris
Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor
Pioneering researcher in brain imaging of psychedelics and founding director of the UCSF Neuroscape Psychedelics Division.
Connected Evidence
The latest clinical data and verified academic findings associated with Veterans.