Wednesday, May 19, 2021

MDMA, the key ingredient in Ecstasy, eases symptoms of severe PTSD

Good news! For several decades, scientific research has confirmed that some psychoactive drugs can aide to heal serious mental disorders. It is still a controversial subject.

"The results, published May 10 in Nature Medicine, are preliminary. But the findings offer hope to the millions of people worldwide who have Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for whom new treatments are desperately needed. Antidepressants such as Zoloft and Paxil are often prescribed, but the drugs don’t work for an estimated 40 to 60 percent of people with PTSD.

Ninety people participated in the new study ... Half of the participants received MDMA in three eight-hour therapy sessions; the other half received placebos during three eight-hour therapy sessions.

True to its nickname Ecstasy, MDMA evokes feelings of bliss and social connectedness. ...

By the end of the trial, 67 percent of the participants who took MDMA had improved so much that they no longer qualified as having a PTSD diagnosis. Among people who took placebos, 32 percent of the participants no longer met the criteria for PTSD at the end of the study. [67 to 32 suggests that PTSD is a poorly diagnosed disorder or that intense placebos and talk therapy does work]..."

"... We report the findings of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-site phase 3 clinical trial ... to test the efficacy and safety of ... (MDMA)-assisted therapy for the treatment of patients with severe PTSD, including those with common comorbidities such as dissociation, depression, a history of alcohol and substance use disorders, and childhood trauma. ..."

MDMA, the key ingredient in Ecstasy, eases symptoms of severe PTSD | Science News Along with talk therapy, the drug led to some patients no longer having a PTSD diagnosis

Here is the link to the underlying link:

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