Getting In Touch with Touch: The Importance of Studying Touch in MDMA-Assisted Therapy and the Development of a New Self-Report Measure

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is currently being tested as an adjunct to psychotherapy in multiple controlled trials, including two completed Phase 3 trials. If approved by regulatory authorities, MDMA could become a legally available medicine used in the context of psychotherapy, i.e., MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT), within the next couple years. The treatment manual that has been used for MDMA-AT research trials holds that touch is an important part of the therapeutic process, yet there has been no empirical evaluation of how touch functions in MDMA-AT and little research on touch in psychotherapy in general. Concerns about the use of touch in combination with MDMA include fears that it could intensify power imbalances or contribute to boundary crossings and unethical behavior. This paper focuses on the need for empirical evidence to guide the application of touch as an intervention in MDMA-AT. We review the existing literature on touch in therapy and outline the development of a new measure of client perceptions of touch in MDMA-AT, the Touch Outcomes Measurement Inventory (TOMI). As the use of therapeutic touch in MDMA-AT may soon be more widespread, it is imperative that researchers begin to evaluate how touch affects clients. The measure we have created can be used by researchers and program evaluators to assess how touch is affecting their patients and further evidence-based and ethical guidelines for the use of touch in MDMA-AT.