Israelis are grappling with rising trauma symptoms in the wake of prolonged war, while mental health services remain stretched far beyond capacity. Against that backdrop, a new study launching in Israel hopes to test an unconventional approach that could help close the treatment gap by combining MDMA with group therapy.
The study will examine the benefits of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a group setting to increase the number of people who can be treated while enhancing the effectiveness of the drug. If successful, researchers say the approach could offer a scalable solution at a time when demand for trauma care far outpaces available resources.
MDMA is an abbreviation for methylenedioxymethamphetamine. It is a lab-made psychedelic drug. The Israeli study will be the first of its kind worldwide to examine MDMA use in a postwar group therapy-only model.
“In the last several years, there was research evidence about the advantages of psychotherapy combined with MDMA for post-traumatic stress,” explained Eyal Gura, an Israeli venture capitalist and serial tech entrepreneur who joined the MAPS Israel team and, together with founder Dr. Keren Tzarfaty, initiated the MDMA group study. In the United States, several clinical trials have been published in peer-reviewed journals, although MDMA is not yet FDA-approved.
Gura said that when he and Tzarfaty saw the results of those studies, they knew they had to launch a group study as soon as possible. When they began examining existing protocols, however, they encountered a significant obstacle: There were not enough trained therapists to administer MDMA-assisted treatment to provide individual therapy. As a result, they developed the idea of using group therapy so that, if effective, the process could be scaled.
“Instead of two therapists treating one person, which is the current MDMA research protocol, in the new study, we’re doing two therapists treating a group of eight people. So it’s a factor of four,” Gura told The Media Line. “Hopefully, we can prove that it’s working and scale it.”
Tzarfaty, the co-founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Israel, said it took nearly two years to get the study off the ground. The trial is being conducted in partnership with Sheba Medical Center.
MAPS Israel is a nonprofit organization focused on developing new treatment protocols for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions, including addiction, anxiety, and depression, through the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
“We’re talking about collective trauma, people who experience the same traumatic incident together, during the war,” Tzarfaty explained.
We’re talking about collective trauma, people who experience the same traumatic incident together, during the war
In practical terms, that means participants will include people who went through similar events, such as Israel Defense Forces veterans, residents of communities in the Gaza envelope, or potentially survivors of the Nova music festival attack.
Gura said the target population includes people who have PTSD associated with the war and Oct. 7, though participants may come from different backgrounds and experiences.
Give the gift of hope
We practice what we preach:
accurate, fearless journalism. But we can't do it alone.
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
Join us.
Support The Media Line. Save democracy.
The trial is expected to begin by the end of the year. In the first phase, 20 participants will be treated, followed by 168 participants in the next phase, making it the largest clinical trial involving psychedelics ever conducted in Israel. Gura said he hopes that if the results prove promising, the therapy could begin reaching a broader population soon.
Currently, the only way to access MDMA in Israel is through Health Ministry–approved clinical trials, and only about 60 to 100 people have participated in those studies so far. Tzarfaty said MAPS is initiating additional research to examine if psychedelic-assisted therapy can be “safe and efficient.” If so, MAPS Israel intends to continue developing the field so the treatments will be accessible to those in need.
Tzarfaty noted that psychedelics have been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years. In recent decades, multiple studies have demonstrated their safety and efficacy, but more data are needed, and regulatory approval has been slow to come. To date, only Australia has officially approved the prescribing of MDMA for medical use, specifically for treatment-resistant PTSD, in July 2023.
“Australia relied on the data and wanted to help people,” Tzarfaty said. “In the US, there is a big debate about whether it is the right time or not to approve MDMA for PTSD.”
In 2024, an FDA advisory committee voted against approving MDMA for the treatment of PTSD, despite objections from several experts in the field of psychedelic research. Those experts cited a growing body of evidence suggesting that, when used alongside psychotherapy, MDMA may have significant potential for treating PTSD and other mental health conditions.
Ultimately, the FDA called for additional research. Tzarfaty said she hopes Israel’s study will help contribute to that growing body of evidence.
Oded Arbel, an Israeli psychiatrist and psychotherapist and head of the day care unit at the Be’er Sheva Mental Health Center, expressed similar views. He noted that not only MDMA but also other psychedelics such as ketamine and psilocybin show promise in treating trauma-related conditions. If approved, he said, these treatments would need to be administered by a psychiatrist to ensure responsible, controlled use.
Arbel added that such therapies could help not only those suffering from trauma related to Oct. 7 but also survivors of other forms of trauma, including sexual abuse or previous wars.
“People are suffering from trauma all over Israel and all over the world,” Arbel told The Media Line.
Gura said psychedelics gained a negative reputation decades ago during the Nixon administration, a period when much of the research was halted, and progress in mental health applications was delayed. Over time, however, the field has gradually regained credibility.
“Everything we do is purely scientific, and with the results, we hope that people will be convinced,” Gura said.
Gura also noted that because psychedelics like MDMA are synthesized in a laboratory, Israeli pharmaceutical companies could eventually produce the substance locally. At present, all psychedelics used in clinical trials are imported and approved by the Health Ministry.
“If our evidence convinces the regulators, I’m sure they will find a way to do it in Israel,” Gura said.
If our evidence convinces the regulators, I’m sure they will find a way to do it in Israel
He added that he believes the study is a matter of national urgency, given the scale of trauma across the country. Earlier this year, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said that in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre and the subsequent war, approximately 3 million adults in Israel experienced anxiety, depression, or symptoms of PTSD.
Tzarfaty described Israel’s mental health crisis as a “security threat” and said the country must better map the situation, improve access to information, and examine the full range of treatment options to deliver care to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.
“Many good people all over the country are offering programs, and I think we need to unify a way to transmit this information,” she told The Media Line. “Trauma impacts all layers of society. For collective trauma, we need to bring collective treatment.”
Trauma impacts all layers of society. For collective trauma, we need to bring collective treatment
She added that if the MDMA protocol proves effective, it could be adapted for use beyond Israel, including in countries facing collective trauma such as Ukraine.
“We would like it to be a model to work with collective trauma that we can duplicate, not only in Israel, for Israelis, but around the world,” she said.
This report is part of Trauma Tech, a new series developed and created by Maayan Hoffman and debuting on The Media Line. The series explores how Israel is building and exporting breakthrough mental health technologies that can transform life at home and bring hope to communities worldwide.