Ecstasy may Help Cure Post-traumatic Stress
MDMA — a medicine recognized by its street name, Ecstasy — may be illegal, but a latest research proposes that it is also a hopeful treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The research, which materializes in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, consists of 20 people with PTSD stemming from traumas such as sexual attack and fight stress. In two different occasions, 12 of the people got a dose of MDMA and then spoke for some hours with a couple of educated therapists. The others got a placebo but got the same therapy. There were also participants who got extra therapy sessions that did not engage the drug.
After two months, out of 12 people, 10 who took MDMA had advanced to the point where they no longer gather the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and three participants whose situation had prohibited them from holding down a job were able to return to work.
In contrast, now two of the eight people in the placebo group practiced a considerable development in their indications.
Michael Mithoefer, M.D., the lead author of the study and a Mount Pleasant, South Carolina-based psychiatrist who specializes in PTSD said that MDMA is alleged to elevate stages of the feel-good brain chemical serotonin and the so-called “bonding hormone,” oxytocin. The ensuing logic of euphoria and expressive affection appears to assist patients attach with their therapists,
He said that a set of the time, people have fairly painful and demanding experiences revisiting the shock, and MDMA can assist them do it without being overpowered or without sensation.
But it is not advisable to experiment at home. Using Ecstasy can be a source of depression, brutal anxiety, and probable cognitive problems, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And when acquired on the street it can be infected.
It is a complex process in conducting a study with an illegal drug. This was the primary clinical experiment to discover the therapeutic possible of MDMA because the drug was outlawed in 1985, and the researchers need an authorization of the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The research was funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a California-based nonprofit organization that also supports research on medical marijuana and psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin.
Applying of MDMA in psychotherapies has been studied for decades, but researches in the U.S. all but ground to a stop following the drug turn out to be illegal.
The team of Mithoefer are currently gearing up for a comparable study concerning fight veterans, which is planned to start later on this year
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