I have suffered from a lifetime of isolation and self-loathing from childhood traumas. My experiences with MDMA served as the catalyst that helped me to learn compassion for myself, and ultimately forgive those against whom I harbored a lifetime of hatred and mistrust. With he help of MDMA and some very compassionate friends, I was able to contextualize everything that happened to me without being so overwhelmed by the immediate and negative emotionally overpowering responses that I had typically experienced when engaging with those truamatic memoreis.
MDMA made it possible for me to live a life filled greater empathy for and more vulnerable connections with other human beings.
56
they would have the same results from mushrooms or peyote maybe better ...all of these things can be harmful to some ..lets hear from the people people that did not find success ,to balance this out
5
Whatever works to help these suffering people. We have to do something now.
23
As a therapist and a patient who has PTSD, I am skeptical. First, an 8-hour, two therapist session is very expensive and probably out of the reach of most sufferers, even with insurance. Second, if sexual issues are involved, such as rape, having a person of the opposite gender might not be helpful. Third, self-medication, which is already occurring, is dangerous because there is no therapist, the drug may not be pure and the side effects may vary.
I have met Dr. Krystal and heard lectures by him. He is very competent and forward-thinking. This encourages me. But so far, they are only treating combat victims. What about the rest of us, such as victims of domestic violence?
10
You'll still have it but you won't care!
4
Oh, so using it in the exact types of psychotherapies for which it was originally prescribed in the 70's 80's? Huh. Whodda thunk.
18
If X helps war-vets / ptsd'ers regain sense-of-self and empathy, do it.
23
As a former MDMA user, this story makes total sense. It's an amazing drug that helps unlock suppressed emotions and trauma. It's also great for dancing. Just don't take too much.
22
In addition to veterans, MDMA is extremely useful for people living with PTSD that results from childhood trauma -- more accurately known as Developmental Trauma Disorder or Complex-PTSD.
Essential reading:
"Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image & The Capacity for Relationship" by Lawrence Heller, Ph.D. & Aline LaPierre, Psy.D.
And,
"The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk
19
Ecstasy can cause PTSD. For years I was haunted by dreams of bellbottoms, platform shoes, drag-queens and leather daddies dancing under a disco ball with non-stop ABBA. And just when I thought I was seeing some progress, I read that ABBA is coming out with another album.
If you decide to take Ecstacy, choose your environment very carefully.
23
"Seems risky. Isn’t there something better?"
Why does it seem risky? MDMA, properly taken, is a very safe drug.
31
I have a brother who has schizophrenia. He's medicated, functional, and works at a menial job, but is plagued by imaginary demons from decades ago.
Might this possibly help people like him?
9
Yes, I have an important question.
The lack of success with psychotherapy alone is noted,---- however was this professionally administered EMDR therapy ?
EMDR has clinically proven remarkable results for psychological trauma such as described in the article. However the VA has been slow to adopt it.
For physical impact head trauma such as caused by an IED, EMDR is far less effective. Service dogs have proven to be of very significant help, though not effecting any kind of cure of the underlying disorder.
The article should have distinguished the critical difference between severe psychological trauma caused PTSD and impact head trauma PTSD. EMDR psychotherapy should have been explored and addressed.
10
Perhaps they can fund some studies on the use of MDMA for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis whose lives were destroyed by the US invasion and destruction of their country so they can forgive us for all the evil we've done to them?
33
This is why doctors and other treatment professionals were upset when the US gov't declared MDMA a schedule I controlled substance, i.e., one that, solely by legislative decree, has no medical benefit whatsoever. Lo and behold, people in another country figured out that it has very important benefits.
15
BEING A BOOMER WHO WAS A child of the 60s, I recall the claims that people made after they had used psychoactive drugs, ranging from marijuana to LSD and others. I don't recall anything like what we'd call a cure these days. But I do remember hearing horror stories about people who were on "bad trips." Some of them never came out of the drug induced states. Some of them ended their lives. The state of knowledge about PTSD and its treatment was very limited, compared to what we know now. There was little or no brain science before brain scans were prevalent. I think that in order to move forward with Ecstacy, the public needs to be educated about the brain science. But I also believe that progress toward using a wider range of substances to treat conditions that do not respond well to verbal therapy and currently available medications.
9
No one “trips” forever. That’s a DARE program lie.
18
As someone from the sixties that "heard stories" it seems you stayed on the sidelines and have no idea what you are talking about.
26
Love our vets.
Provide them with the care they need, even if that care runs contrary to conventional western medical treatments.
You are reading this paper because of them.
You have the ability to live a grateful and fulfilling life, because of their sacrifices.
Ease their suffering, help them heal, build them up so that they may enjoy the kinds of lives most of us take for granted.
38
Research on pharmaceutical grade MDMA for PTSD has been in the works for decades. These FDA clinical trials are the same as required for any new drug approval. What's impressive is the data which is not presented in this article. Apparently, and after reviewing that data, the FDA has found the trial results successful enough to grant MDMA a "Breakthrough Therapy" designation. Phase III trials are progressing. If FDA approved, MDMA assisted psychotherapy will only be available under specially trained supervision by specially trained therapists. So don't get in a tizzy. This is not a D.I.Y. process.
19
Having seen many miracle cures re-examined over time and found disappointing, I doubt this is a silver bullet. I know there is great suffering but a drowning man grasps at straws.
2
MK MD, doubt all you like but Phase 2 reported a nearly 70% remission rate among people who suffered from what otherwise probably would have been a life-long condition.
'In MAPS' completed Phase 2 trials with 107 participants, 61% no longer qualified for PTSD after three sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy two months following treatment. At the 12-month follow-up, 68% no longer had PTSD. All Phase 2 participants had chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD, and had suffered from PTSD for an average of 17.8 years.'
21
They have been talking about MDMA therapy for over 40 years! Now that the PTSD Veterans want it- perhaps it may get fast tracked into mainstream medicine. Thank you for your service... How about sharing your socialized medicine and hospitals with all of America???
9
Here's a link to some important details from MAPS:
http://www.maps.org/news/media/7122-tedxsalem-mdma-psychotherapy-and-the...
3
PTSD and major clinical depression can cause daily suicidal thoughts.
It would be good to use these drugs on truly hopeless people as soon as possible to give them a chance at freedom from chronic despair.
I can’t help but wonder in our current opioid crisis, how many opioid deaths are really suicides... by people (many of them 65 or older) who are profoundly depressed and/or racked with physical pain and have no way to support themselves now or in the future and feel that they are just taking up space in a society that doesn’t give a damn about them.
26
Wasn't this the whole idea before it got let lose on the streets of NYC, Dallas, and Detroit in the late 70's? Not sure why it's shocking that something that was working back then works today.
6
As a Schedule I drug, it's most unlikely that the veterans or indeed anyone else in the American population will see the legalization of MDMA. LSD has also been used for experiments since the 1950s, and it was initially used as "Ergotamine", a substance given to the Waffen SS troops in charge of running German death camps, to enable their dissociation at the end of a difficult session of mass murder. LSD has been said to possess psychotherapeutic benefits but our puritanical ethos won't permit its legalization for any purpose either...
4
There was no mention about whether the studies were double blinded. If so, how do we know if the patients interviewed actually got MDMA or placebo?
The fact that the article did not say that it was double blinded probably means that it was not.
How can we really know if the drug works if the studies are not double blinded?
2
Go to the M.A.P.S. website. This was a general information article about the study, not a peer reviewed paper.
2
Double blind is critical.
DE- If you looked before commenting you would have seen that they were indeed double-blinded.
'This Therapist Training/ Phase 1 psychological effects protocol is a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, cross-over study that allows MAPS to administer a single MDMA-assisted psychotherapy session to therapists as part of their training to conduct MAPS' MDMA/PTSD studies'
https://www.maps.org/research/mdma/training-protocol
This is a fully compliant FDA approved study which has already shown sufficient positive results through Phase 1 and 2 to proceed to a large-scale Phase 3 study. Indeed they were so good the FDA approved an open label Phase 3 study.
https://www.maps.org/news/media/6786-press-release-fda-grants-breakthrou...
5
PTSD is just one treatment possibility for a hallucinogenic drug like MDMA. It affects the mind on such a fundamental level that it could be applicable to many sorts of psychiatric conditions. I'm thinking depression, mainly, since that affects so many people and since the world conditions that have produced so much ennui, anhedonia, etc. aren't changing any time soon (in fact are likely to get worse) we need to find new ways to adapt. Drugs, taken responsibly (which is not an oxymoron, by the way) have great potential to do good. Give it to soldiers if it'll help them but don't limit the potential benefits to others under the guise that it would be "too potent" for those not suffering from wartime psychological damage.
10
There are two problems with this study.
One-- it is a small, self-recruited cohort and is likely biased toward drug experimentation. But the news releases do not treat it that way-- they in effect ballyhoo it as a promising new treatment of PTSD. It is not.
The other issue is danger. One of the most common complications seen with PTSD is SUD-- substance use disorder. Alcohol is probably the most common but substances from across the spectrum are seen. As understandable as it may be to "drown one's sorrows", there is nothing healthy to say about SUD. A substance-- alcohol, MJ, opioids-- may make you feel "better" during the intoxication, but the price is high. Morbidity and mortality rates go way up. There are a lot of problems seen with Ecstasy and that is the reason it is not legal.
PTSD has been around forever. It is an honorable wound. We know from our oldest veterans that it usually fades very slowly over time but does not vanish. Treatment with psychotherapy does not "cure" it-- at best, it helps a veteran live with it. "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" of literary and cinematic renown is a good example of PTSD. A quiet war hero, he did the best he could with a tormented situation. And it was pretty good, if you will remember.
Studies-- and articles-- like these do no one any favors. It is hard enough to treat PTSD without the NYT egging people toward extremely imprudent interventions.
2
Reply to AS- You're worried about substance abuse? It's always interesting when people opine about things they know nothing about. If three doses of mdma (Ecstasy) in a clinical setting can eliminate over 80% of the symptoms of PTSD then it stands to reason that over-medication with ineffective psych meds (SSRI's, anti-psychotics, benzos, opiates, etc), and self-medication with alcohol and illegal drugs, would drop precipitously.
Only someone who has never seen the effects of PTSD could so blithely opine that PSTD is an 'honorable wound'. Such unadulterated nonsense.
34
If, in fact, the combination of therapy and Ecstasy is as effective with PTSD as this early study may indicate, perhaps this treatment should be considered and extended to those suffering from eating disorders and/or physical/sexual abuse.
10
Because title of the article mentions 'soldiers' some people seem to be confused regarding the intended beneficiaries of this treatment. Studies are showing compelling evidence that MDMA is possibly the long sought cure for PTSD in most cases, not just soldiers. In fact soldiers are only a minority of sufferers. Most are in fact victims of crime, first responders, and every other form of traumatic experience possible (a Canadian film, 'Crash Landings', documented the suffering of Canadians troops sent on strictly peacekeeping missions to Rwanda and Bosnia). They all desperately need help.
This is not a pro or antiwar question, it's a human decency answer.
16
If my recollection is correct, MDMA was initially intended as a tool for use in psychotherapy. I recall a fascinating article in the New York Times Magazine from a number of years ago, maybe about Alexander Shulkin. If anyone can find it, that would be great.
4
As with all hallucinogens, MDMA should be done with great consideration to the set and setting in order to assure a positive outcome. But MDMA is incredibly effective at allowing people to open up emotionally and to see things in oneself that we might be blind to otherwise. It could change couples counseling enormously, not just help with PTSD.
Given how much MDMA and other hallucinogens help people to see things in themselves and this world and the next, it seems criminal NOT to allow people these options.
24
But no one is focusing on the side effects such as the drying out of the spinal fluid, whenever one takes MDMA...
1
Urban legend. From the Wikipedia page:
"This myth appears to be derived from research in 1994 in which serotonin breakdown products were measured in the spinal fluid of ecstasy users. However, it was the researchers, not the drug, who drained the fluid (for the purpose of testing). Nonetheless, this legend (and related ones about it damaging one's spinal cord and/or spinal column, which [are] also false) was popularized in 2000 by Eminem's songs 'Drug Ballad' and 'The Kids.'"
Goggle first, then opine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legends_about_drugs
17
When a soldier is grievously wounded, mentally, we should do all we can to help them recover. It MDMA can work as part of an overall treatment, apparently to make the mind more open to corrective modification, this sounds powerful (careful!) and potentially effective. Effective is good, for terrible wounds, and PTSD is a terrible wound. Mind-altering treatment is obviously potentially dangerous, but this sounds promising for further development. The separate issue that Ecstacy use may undesirable socially is an issue to deal with separately from perfecting a serious medical procedure to ameliorate PTSD. We use powerful sedatives in operation, yet they are still abused by some, e.g. Michael Jackson with propofal. There are many such dangerous medicines that nonetheless are curative when used appropriately.
21
I wholeheartedly support research that creatively examines the therapeutic potential of substances like MDMA, LSD, and on a less contentious level, marijuana. Apart from the potential discovery of new treatments, it's important that academic science catches up with recreational drugs. I hope that with the continued conversation on the "opiate epidemic" in this country people begin to push back and demand that medical trials take these substances seriously--not only as potential treatments, but to understand how to prevent overdoses and identify drug abuse earlier.
Unrelated, but I wanted to signal-boost the dangers of taking MDMA while using an SSRI-type antidepressant (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24006318).
tl;dr "MDMA, in combination with the widely-prescribed SSRI antidepressant class, can lead to rapid, synergistic rise of serotonin (5-HT) concentration in the central nervous system, leading to the acute medical emergency known as serotonin syndrome."
Because antidepressants are so widely distributed (and do not require a prescription from a psychiatrist like many other substances), the exposed population is higher. Combined with the natural reluctance most people have when sharing information about illicit drug use with a physician, a lot of people are unaware of risk they're taking.
I'm grateful to my psychiatrist for making me comfortable enough to be honest about my MDMA use in the first place, because I never would have known otherwise.
17
“I was finally able to process all the dark stuff that happened.”
~Nicholas Blackston
I could not a said it better myself. I never saw combat, nor do I claim to have had PTSD, but I did experience some truly emotionally damaging things in my early childhood that left me full of self-loathing and filled with rage all through my 20's. I realize this is completely anecdotal, but in my early 30's a girlfriend and I did MDMA (she called it "Adam") five or six times together and, well, I was finally able to process all the dark stuff that happened. It was... transformative.
While I am thrilled that this drug is finally getting the serious attention I have felt for almost 30 years that it deserves, I am heartbroken at all the suffering it could have relieved in those decades had this country's leaders been less puritanical and more compassionate.
In fact, maybe our "leaders" should try some. I have always thought that Ecstasy was the wrong name for MDMA; it should have been called Empathy.
70
Some positive studies were done showing that LSD might help cure alcoholism until the government shut them all down when LSD was made illegal in 1966. To think it was offered for sale in the back of Playboy legally.
10
Many "illegal" drugs have great potential for treating PTSD and other mental disorders. See "The Trip Treatment: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip-treatment
7
I'm happy to see research in this arena, God knows our Veterans need it. I think though, and I'm saying this as a disabled Veteran, as long as our injuries are tied to a pension because of those injuries, then there is anxiety that getting better will mean a loss in benefits. For some, especially for those who would benefit from this therapy the loss of the pension would mean the loss of all their income.
You would argue, they are better and can now seek out new forms of income but that isn't always easy after being out of the workforce for so long.
Guys that would benefit from this therapy would likely rather be without an income if it meant that they could again live "normal" lives, but we as a nation will just be setting them up for failure if we immediately remove all their benefits and throw them back onto the streets.
47
The cat is out of the bag; MDMA and pyschedelics; particularly ayahuasca seem to have the ability to unlock the unending mental prison of PTSD. They appear to give patients the equivalent of a weekend pass to see the world outside and a sense of relief and release. Even a short break from entrapment in a world of pain is enough it seems to open a path toward getting out and staying out.
They're going from Shock to Awe!
29
For the past ten years almost nothing has helped me. Please make this treatment available so I can do it safely under supervision.
62
Jenny, ask around, someone can find it for you. All the supervision you need is some friends, some good music and plenty of water.
3
In all seriousness, pure MDMA is actually a quite safe drug empirically - especially relative to many antidepressants which need to be titrated up and down, and even relative to over the counter drugs like NSAIDS... Anyone who tells you otherwise should go back to Stats class. One of the main hazards has been people drinking too much (or too little) water at dance parties, often when mixing with other 'uppers', rather than just straight MDMA. While they are talking about using it in conjunction with other therapies to help people 'open up' (hence the cliche of people have deep-and-meanignful conversations with strangers at raves) there is information available on sites like Erowid if you are keen to find out more.
5
I'm asking a question, not suggesting there's one answer:
Should we "forgive" ourselves, or should we work to and learn to live with what we've done, what we've experienced?
Can one really forgive one's own transgressions, or do we accept them and admit them as being part of our life's experience, our lifelong acquisition of knowledge -- knowledge of ourselves and our relationships with others?
We find many politicians and others who are incapable of admitting their mistakes, usually putting "the blame on Mame" as the old song goes.
We're reminded of the Joseph Conrad line, "The horror! The horror!" Terrifying, all consuming.
Those of us who are persistently haunted by memory may be helped by drugs, and we can also be helped by actively helping others - going out instead of committing personal solitary confinement. Is a goal to become in our own eyes -- a better person moving forward.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
3
Before it is too late, some academic should embark on a meticulous and rigorous study of how veterans of the war in Vietnam (not US but PAVN or as known here the NVA ) dealt with PTSD.
PAVN soldiers went south with no set DEROS (date of expected return from war ) to look forward to - they were to fight until victory or death or suffer grievous wounds. Most were subject to levels of firepower ( B-52 Arc Light strikes ) that were terrifying.
As far as I know, most of the survivors took no medications and never talked about PTSD. For the most part, their is still a tremendous and tight family bond and support system in Vietnam.
What if anything can be learned from the Vietnamese experience and how their cultural components may ameliorate some of the more traumatic aspects of PTSD?
1
PTSD wasn't even recognized for American soldiers until 1980. Does that mean it didn't exist before than? One can't talk about what is not known to exist now can they. Family bonds in the US are not as strong or forced as in other countries. Many woman in US would not want to put up with a partner and his craziness from PTSD. Threat to kids is one good reason to tear apart the family. In Vietnam woman just do not move to the city to get away from poor family life.
1
I have one idea. I remember going to a VA mental health seminar and one vet who had been in Afghanistan flat out told the specialist that she could not help him because she had no idea what he had gone through. Then he got graphic about seeing friends step on bombs and the missiles. She had just gotten out of college.
In Vietnam, everyone experienced bombs going off and seeing friends disappear. They could all share the same experience better than U.S. vets who come back to civilians who have no idea.
2
Ketamine is being studied similarly for its benefits in helping those with major depression that doesn’t respond to current treatments, including approved pharmaceuticals.
This is exactly how these kinds of drugs should be used. To help people where other therapies fail. This is how science progresses.
73
MDMA works where conventional psychotherapy fails to help those who suffer from PTSD. As a rape survivor who suffered from PTSD I am speaking from personal experience. 2 years of therapy and years of anti anxiety medication did nothing to help me with flashbacks, panic attacks and debilitating nightmares. A close helpful friend and a the use of MDMA finally helped me to work through the PTSD that had haunted me for 10 years. MDMA is not a magic pill. Talk therapy is still needed but it somehow helps you to see things in a different frame of mind; something that conventional therapy alone and other medications cannot achieve.
83
Did you try professionally administered EMDR therapy ?
2
Nice to see something working for PTSD....back in the day...some of us of took psychedelics and helped heal our minds, esp when taken in a safe space with a good guide...Actually I never took Ecstasy just LSD/ etc..the old pure stuff
12
The drive to legalize every dangerous drug is in full and noxious bloom. The excuse is always the military injured blah blah blah, and "no one understands". It is evil. It is aimed at profits from misery and nothing else. I know it is very au courant now to urge legalization of all kinds of very dangerous substances with nothing more than the excuse that "it makes people feel better".
2
So this man who benefitted from this drug should be forced to live a life a misery, or commit suicide so that prudes don't have to worry about drugs being legalized? I imagine the controls on the drug will be considerable... I doubt you will be buying MDMA at the CVS with your vitamins.
Do you not want people to feel better? Perhaps it's dangerous, but so are suicidal thoughts and mental illness.
But I guess these guys should just suck it up.
21
Hey Mary Melcher, have you ever tried the "evil" drugs you purport to know are "very dangerous"? Or are you just taking the word of (i) our government, which has a vested interest in keeping street drugs illegal so it can maintain the "war on crime" (also know as the "war on minorities"), and (ii) the pharmaceutical industry, which insists its harmful drugs are fine and all others are dangerous?
You're being duped, Mary Melcher, and speaking about that which you do not know.
46
Please respond when you can speak from a place of knowledge, experience or empathy. Otherwise your comment comes off as horrendously banal.
20
"But isn't it risky?" Yet again the Times parrots the pharmaceutical industry's propaganda by suggesting that legal drugs are somehow intrinsically safer than illegal drugs. For decades that has proven untrue.
Bottom line: thank goodness there's something to help these suffering people. If you're hurting like them, don't wait on the government to allow you access to molly; call your college-age relative or friend and ask them to hook you up. You could be feeling better by this weekend.
25
Speaking from the experience of being a recreational drug user for over 20 years, directing someone to just take whatever drugs they can get their hands on is extraordinarily dangerous “advice”.
You never know when talking Molly/MDMA (or any other drug) that what you’re putting into your body hasn’t been cut with other unknown drugs. Dealers do this very often in order to increase their profits.
There exist some decent testing kits (and some not so decent - research them throughly) on the market that can tell you the purity of street drugs.
My advice: NEVER put a drug into your body unless you have tested it throughly.
6
Feeling better until you crash and start having suicidal thoughts.
Nope! You'll feel better for days after.
The Mike Pences of the world will never allow this!
5
Which is why you and everyone who reads this votes Republicans out of office......
5
"After taking the drug, the patient lies on a futon amid candles and fresh flowers, listening to music. Two therapists — one female, one male — sit at the patient’s side as guides. That session lasts eight hours....The drug floods the brain with hormones and neurotransmitters that evoke feelings of trust and well-being, users report. Researchers say this allows patients to re-examine traumatic memories." Is there anything else that does this that could be tried at home: food, drink, chanting, prayer, breathing techniques, "forest bathing?" Has the idea of releasing those "hormones and neurotransmitters that evoke feelings of trust" been explored in more manageable ways? This article makes drugs seem like a desirable solution but some people wouldn't want them.
3
Considering that so many vets have taken anti-depressants and alcohol over long periods of time for their PTSD without any outcome of healing, the fact that one guided MDMA session can heal them is a beautiful and wonderful thing! If food, drink, chanting, prayer, etc. really worked, we wouldn't be having this conversation. They do not heal PTSD. Why be against something that truly heals and helps our soldiers who have suffered fought for our freedoms? It should be their free choice to heal, and no one else's.
10
Some people don't want to take heart medication either, but if the they don't the results are just as dire as the results of PTSD can be. Don't let the off-label party uses scare you from the true and tangible benefit.
6
I wonder if such therapy might help the millions of addicts in this country. Using a drug like MDMA to treat people addicted to meth, heroin, various other opioids, alcohol, cigarettes may seem
dangerous and unwise, but we could well ask how many such addicts are, in some measure, suffering from PTSD, or a derivative of it, given the dire circumstances many children endure growing up in America. I refer to gun violence; other forms of violence; physical or sexual or psychological abuse; poverty; broken homes; homelessness; and more. The children are soon grown into adults, carrying all the trauma with them, and many decide to medicate themselves with whatever is at hand on the streets. Could MDMA with psychotherapy help break the cycle of self-destructive habits for such people?
41
Thank you M.A.P.S., Rick Doblin, and the Times for this. It's a wonderful thing when those suffering from trauma which isolates the individual (small "s" self) and locks them into thinking that isolation and suffering are definitive of the world can experience for themselves the connectedness and beauty (big "s" Self) that psychedelics can show them. Hopefully, Puritanism won't be able to restrict these healing methods. Good luck to the vets and other sufferers!
81
Not if Sessions has a say!
"Nearly all patients saw clinically significant reductions in symptoms, and a majority saw such drastic reductions that they no longer met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. In the 12 months after MDMA therapy, PTSD symptoms generally continued to decrease."
15
MDMA is,at its core, an amphetamine. The emotional ‘well-being’ it produces may be useful but repeated doses would raise the problems of all stimulant highs...crashing.
Perhaps soldiers with little prior exercise of self-reflection or who never needed to grapple with intense conflicts do benefit from a careful jump start, an artificial override of self-protective (defensive) barriers.
But as with ketamine, the readiness of psychiatry to embrace party drugs & psychedelics (amateurs are flocking to ayahuasca spas) may also reveal the failure to adequately train a generation of clinicians to work psychologically.
That takes gifted people with meticulous long training and treatment can be longer than 6 months. That makes insurers eager to promote any quicker ‘fix’ - with little attention to long term effects.
4
Easy for you to judge the decisions of others, sitting safely at your desk, coffee in hand, while vets struggle to get through the day
44
That's why they're doing studies.
23
I've struggled with mental health issues my entire life, and I am so fortunate that my body responds to a particular set of medications (all widely available as generics). My heart goes out to those who suffer without an effective treatment, and I hope that these studies prove fruitful.
In regards to Sara's comment, I share similar concerns about the methods here. It's notoriously difficult to get patients to the point where they're seeing a mental health professional consistently and have the support they need. There's also a high turnover rate in the behavioral health profession. That, combined with the usual access challenges (insurance coverage, scheduling, etc.) makes me feel like this course of treatment would be very, very difficult to successfully administer in the real world.
Maybe it's just because I work in healthcare IT, but the thing that gives me pause is not the drug itself, but the sorry state of healthcare delivery in this country, which makes coordinated-care efforts like these hard to implement.
8
No soldier should go to war unless WAR is declared. REFUSE.
20
Americans have forgotten that Congress is supposed to declare war. (And presumably, they want to declare or not in accordance with the wishes of their voting constituents.) War is Not the Answer.
6
Kisses and hugs will beat ISIS and Al Qaeda? That shoudl have been offered after Pearl Harbor? Be it Congress declaring war or not declaring war has little to do with those experiencing war.
2
Isn't it possible to agree that sending young people to fight our undeclared wars is wrong while agreeing that those who do end up going, AND rape victims, AND accident victims, AND all the people who are suffer from PTSD that had nothing to do with war, receive treatment for their suffering?
6