NYTimes article on PTSD treatment w/psych drugs

[CarbonTiger]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/mdma-approval.amp.html


..."Over the next eight years, hundreds of therapists and others administered an estimated half a million doses of MDMA. Some reported that, in just a few sessions with the medication, patients achieved an amount of progress that normally took year"..

...

"The 90 participants who took part in the Phase 3 trial included combat veterans, first responders and victims of sexual assault, mass shootings, domestic violence or childhood trauma. All had severe PTSD and had been diagnosed, on average, for more than 14 years. Many had a history of alcohol and substance use disorder, and 90 percent had considered suicide. The trial included data collected by 80 therapists at 15 sites in the United States, Canada and Israel."

• I thought this was an interesting read. Lord knows we trauma survivors need the help. I'm just happy that its being studied carefully, trauma affects us all in different ways. We need the science, so we can treat people and eventually cure them. Reducing symptoms is the bare minimum we can accomplish, so they can lead fulfilling lives as adults. Just my two thoughts on it. For the record, i've never taken any psychadelics. I posted this for information for others to read.

 

[Alex T]

This is a long overdue occurrence. Mental health professionals were making real progress using psychedelics before they were made illegal. Now they are once again being able to use them to help people.

In my experience, the power of psychedelics is that they make one temporarily relax their "grip" on their belief about the nature of reality. This opens the door for change. For example: I was a very committed atheist. But when I used psychedelics as a tool to introspect on the nature of reality, I was able to let go of that commitment and open myself up to the possibility that there was a god. Just one that didn't fit the description I'd been taught as a child.

Once I became a regular meditator, I no longer required the psychedelics to make this connection. But I'm not sure I'd have been open to it without the temporary step that was the psychedelics.

Thanks for sharing the link CT.

 

[Visitor]

I have three tabs of MDMA in my refrigerator secured through a series of anonymous but reputable connections. A friend who has been a meditation teacher for the last forty years has offered to be my guide when/if I decide to use them. I'm of an age that put me in the middle of the LSD craze but I always felt that I'd likely have been one of those guys who walked off the top of a building if I ever took a trip. The best I could do was smoke a bit of grass and lie on the floor examining the jungle of a shag rug...

I contacted the folks running the recent MDMA trial, MAPS, but decided the rigors of the trial were too much for me. I did regular therapy instead and secured MDMA to use if it made sense. Actually, I haven't felt the need. That said, I appreciate what these folks are doing and hope such treatment will be available in the future. I watched this video when I was considering it... a woman who was sexually traumatized as a child.

 

[Dolphin42]

Pure MDMA taken back in my 20s was almost a religious experience of love for other. I had my first adult same sex explorations while tripping on MDMA.

It left my brain drained for days afterwards, worst brain fog ever.

 

[CarbonTiger]

Thanks for sharing the link CT.

Your're welcome Alex

@Visitor that's a great, little short video. I also just watched this Tedtalk from 2018 I think. Pretty informative. Thanks for posting.

 

[Esterio]

Well I grew up on the street in the late 60's early 70's this hippy commune years. I never did any of the drugs as a therapeutic it was all about getting high, mostly LSD and Mushrooms. the trips were therapeutic for the first years. It was like your mind was opened to everything around you and it was clear. Then at 18 a new drug hit the street they called it the love drug MDA was what they called it. It seemed to do something to people stopped them from being overly aggressive as usually they were drunk went taking it and partying. I have been seeing lots of articles on MDMA and wonder how closely it is to MDA. I have not found anything that relates the 2 all but here in this thread, it does seem to clear your thoughts.

I have talked about trying this with my Psychiatrist and she said there was no trials that she knew of close to us here but to keep looking as it is promising to get people to relax their brain and free it up for healing and meditation. She was to send me some links but I have not got them yet.

There was someone else here a while back that was going to do a self guided session and then I never heard how he did and have not seen him since. I hope that nothing went wrong. I do not know where he acquired the MDMA. I would not be trusting anything that comes from the street as who really knows what is in it.

If I could find a qualified person with a clean supply of MDMA I would try it. It sounds like a person could get past the stuff that scares the shit out of you without suffering a lot, being able to get past that stuff would really help me out. I have quit therapy multiple times now just as I get to the real bad years I fall to pieces and don't continue with therapy.

 

[Visitor]

That was our dear friend Sink Back Into the Ocean who was in Croatia. He was able to get medical grade LSD legally and was telling us about his trips. They helped him... but he left the site and I honestly don't know if he survived. There was great despair in his life. I miss him.

 

[Esterio]

yes I remember him to be the one now that you have reminded me. thanks Visitor

 

[Me&Me]

it took MDMA recreationally during my 20s. Ar first it was a wonder drug, but with regular use the comedowns were bad. I'm not sure about doseages used in a theraputic settings or clinical purity etc. Its not something I'd entertain nowadays.