A New Study Points to MDMA as a Powerful Treatment for PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), will affect some 26 million Americans at some point in their lives, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The condition, characterized by depression, hopelessness, memory problems, difficulty maintaining relationships, and recurrent visions of the trauma-causing event is notoriously hard to treat. Up to a third of people with the condition are still symptomatic 10 years after diagnosis, and the main therapeutic drugs of choice—the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors sertraline and paroxetine—fail in up to 60% of patients. A study published yesterday, however, suggests that there may be a powerful new medication to battle the condition: MDMA, the primary chemical in the drugs colloquially known as ecstasy and molly. In a Phase 3 trial led by neurologist Jennifer Mitchell of the University of California, San Francisco, treatment with three doses of MDMA—accompanied by one-on-one therapy—over the course of 18 weeks was significantly more effective in treating symptoms of PTSD than the same talk therapy accompanied by a placebo. In some cases, the people who received the MDMA no longer even met the diagnosis for PTSD at the end of the study period. The sample group of subjects who participated in the study was relatively small—just 90 people—but they had suffered long, on average going 14.8 years since the onset of symptoms. The group included veterans who’d experienced combat trauma,...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news