Video interview: MDMA trauma therapy for couples – Anne Wagner

Dr. Anne Wagner, the leader of the mental health innovation centre Remedy, has researched MDMA psychotherapy in the context of cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy (CBCT) for the treatment posttraumatic stress disorder. Instead of the more typical approach where just the person suffering from trauma gets the treatment, in the context of her research, both the person and their partner received MDMA therapy.

In our new interview, she also talks about the qualities of a good MDMA therapist, integrating psychedelic experiences, the challenges related to the wider implementation of MDMA therapy and integrating the modality into our health care systems, the risk of MDMA only becoming available for the affluent, how she became involved with MDMA therapy and the future of MDMA.

Anne Wagner, CPscyh, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and researcher who is committed to helping understand and improve trauma recovery. She is also the founder of Remedy, a mental health innovation community. She is Adjunct Professor at the Department of Psychology and an Associate Member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University. Anne completed a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ryerson University, and is the 2019 recipient of the Clinical Section of the Canadian Psychological Association’s Early Career Scientist Practitioner Award. She is currently the Past-Chair of the Traumatic Stress Section of the Canadian Psychological Association and her work has been funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, and the Canadian Armed Forces.

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If you have a professional interest in research on psychedelics or forms of psychedelic-assisted therapy or would like to otherwise support psychedelic research in Finland, you can become a member of the Finnish Association for Psychedelic Research.