The European Parliament held a discussion on the prospects of psychedelic-assisted therapy, a field that is increasingly being researched around the world as a potential tool for helping people with severe mental disorders resistant to standard treatment. Representatives of our institute also joined the international discussion, presenting the Ukrainian perspective on the development of innovative approaches in the field of mental health in wartime.
For Ukraine, this topic has long ceased to be just a scientific discussion or a theoretical question of the future. A full-scale war has changed the very structure of the mental health of society. Daily losses, life under fire, prolonged uncertainty, exhaustion of doctors, military, civilians, children and volunteers form an unprecedented level of psychological stress, which the modern health care system is facing for the first time.
Today, the number of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depressive states, anxiety disorders, chronic insomnia, addictions and psychosomatic disorders is rapidly increasing in Ukraine. Some of these people do not respond to classical therapy protocols. And that is why the international medical community is starting to look for new approaches that can help where traditional therapy proves insufficient. It is in this context that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and psilocybin therapy are being actively studied in the world today.
What is psychedelic-assisted therapy and why is the world talking about it?
Despite the huge number of myths, psychedelic-assisted therapy is not about “legalizing drugs” or trying to find a “magic pill.” It is about strictly controlled clinical approaches, where substances are used only within the framework of a medical protocol, under the supervision of specially trained professionals, with clear safety criteria, psychotherapeutic support, and long-term monitoring of the patient’s condition.
Today, most of the attention of international science is focused on two areas: MDMA-assisted psychotherapy – primarily in working with PTSD; psilocybin-assisted therapy – in the treatment of resistant depression, anxiety disorders, and existential anxiety.
Large-scale clinical trials of these approaches are underway in leading clinics in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, Australia and a number of EU countries. Some of the results already demonstrate a potentially high level of effectiveness in those patients for whom standard pharmacotherapy has not yielded results for years. At the same time, the international expert community emphasizes: these methods cannot be considered a mass solution or a replacement for classical psychiatry. On the contrary, they require the strictest possible regulation, ethical control and evidence base.
Why can Ukraine become an important part of this global discussion?
The war has made Ukraine a country with a unique and at the same time extremely painful experience of mass psychotraumatization of the population. Millions of people live in a state of chronic stress. Thousands of soldiers return from the front with severe psychological trauma. Doctors work on the verge of emotional exhaustion. Children grow up in the reality of sirens, losses and constant danger. That is why the issue of mental health today is becoming not only a medical challenge, but also a matter of national security, economic stability and the future of the country.
Ukraine is gradually becoming one of the key international platforms for the formation of new approaches to the treatment of mental trauma, and the participation of Ukrainian representatives in the discussion in the European Parliament is an important signal: our country does not stand aside from the global scientific process. State institutions emphasize that the development of psychedelic-assisted therapy in Ukraine is possible only within the framework of evidence-based medicine and international standards of good clinical practice (GCP). This is not about the popularization of substances, but about the creation of a responsible system of clinical research, where the priority is patient safety, state control, ethical support, scientific verification of results, professional training of specialists, and a transparent regulatory system. This is exactly what Edem Adamanov emphasized during the international meeting, emphasizing that for Ukraine this topic is not a search for “quick solutions”, but a question of responsibility and building the right system from the very beginning. In the future, Ukraine may become one of the European platforms for conducting international clinical research in the field of mental health.
To do this, today it is necessary:
- to form professional multidisciplinary teams;
- to create research centers;
- adapt the regulatory framework to international requirements;
- develop ethical control mechanisms;
- implement training programs for doctors and psychotherapists;
- integrate Ukrainian experience into international research consortia.
It is also important to understand: psychedelic-assisted therapy is always a combination of psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. Without high-quality psychotherapeutic support, without risk assessment, without patient selection and long-term observation, these methods cannot exist. And it is here that Ukraine has a chance not just to “catch up with the world”, but to form its own school of work with war trauma.
Today, the world is closely watching Ukraine not only as a country fighting for its freedom, but also as a society going through an unprecedented experience of collective trauma. And perhaps it is the Ukrainian experience that will help shape a new global model for dealing with PTSD, chronic stress, and the psychological consequences of war in the future.
The participation of Ukrainian specialists in international discussions on MDMA and psilocybin is not about sensationalism or hype. It is about an attempt to honestly answer a difficult question: how to help people who have experienced what the world considered impossible in the center of Europe a few years ago. And today, the main task of Ukraine is to ensure that any new approaches in psychiatry and psychotherapy develop responsibly, scientifically and safely. This is what can become the foundation of the country’s new mental health system after the war.