The psychedelic drug MDMA can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers reported in a new study published Thursday.
The company sponsoring the research said it plans later this year to seek U.S. approval to market the drug, also known as ecstasy, as a PTSD treatment when combined with talk therapy.
“It’s the first innovation in PTSD treatment in more than two decades. And it’s significant because I think it will also open up other innovation,” said Amy Emerson, CEO of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, the research sponsor.
How many studies have we seen over the years that psychedelics help with all sorts of mental illness and trauma? And there’s a couple of states where just mushrooms are decriminalized. It’s ridiculous. It’s dangerous. Our drug laws need substantial revision.
Fine, you don’t think MDMA should be available to the general public. At least let psychiatrists decide whether or not to prescribe it.
I think your last sentence is super important. We shouldn’t exclude a pharmaceutical option, just because the general public perceives it as dangerous. As long as science and doctors greenlight it, we should have it as an option.
Anyone else find it weird that MDMA is considered a paychedelic? Its effects have never seemed similar to other psychedelic drugs to me.
100% completely agreed
Decriminalization of psychedelics and medical treatment are opposite ends of the spectrum.
Not really.
A drug war that criminalized medicine that Dr’s where researching and that people were enjoying for both personal exploration and recreation is the opposite end of the spectrum.
So imma explain some shit maybe poorly with what’s been happening in the psychiatric world.
Recently some huge studies have been published showing that what’s really going on in depression or anxiety isn’t neurotransmitter related it’s synapse related. Let me explain. As you go from being a baby to being 25 years old your brain goes from roughly 200M neurons to 100M neurons. Tf how do you not get stupider?? Well removed it’s because of something called synaptic pruning. This reinforces the good synapses and eliminates useless synapses/neurons. Okay with all that being said for every neuron in your brain you have ~1000 synapses if you’re healthy. In depression or anxiety you have ~500. So they’ve found by stimulating synapses regeneration you can effectively treat depression from its root biological cause. A drug called Auvelity which is extremely new does this and it’s fucking amazingly effective. I’m talking like a week until you’re feeling better.
Now with all that being said, I’m betting the reason these psychedelics work as treatment is because they stimulate axonal regeneration. But they have the side effect of tripping tf out which can backfire and cause retraumatization.
I hope this makes sense or is cool to others, because it’s fucking awesome to me. Tons of people are about to get waaaaay better mentally because of this research.
Just to add to your point: in PTSD your brain will prioritize certain synapses over others that may help you survive through the trauma, but will result in a continued focus on the trauma after the event has passed. So those ~500 synapses in depressive PTSD aren’t just lower than a healthy brain, but they’re also the wrong synapses for your current situation. Psychedelics can help you develop new synapses that are more relevant to your current life. As someone who experienced this therapy, it’s amazing how quickly it can happen, too. It’s a total game changer and should be available to anyone who wants to try it.
😮 I want to believe your explanation, but it sounds too good to be true.
It’s very true. I’ve been seeing people get these drug samples for Auvelity (because it’s expensive af right now being so new and all) and they get much better in a week and then sooooo much better after 2 months that you can take them off Auvelity. I’m super excited for everyone to get better
Yeah mate its cool to me nice info
So all these years of rampant drug abuse have been good for me? Take THAT stupid school drug training.
Well written post, thanks.
Depression doesn’t have one cause.
And MDMA and other forms of psychedelic treatment are more about the cultural factors than the chemistry. I.e. the ritual space we create around it. In this case, the therapeutic safe space where someone can unpack without tripping the fuck out as you put it.
Not discounting the medicine you’re taking, but please don’t discount psychedelics just because you started taking cough syrup and Wellbutrin (DXM is the main ingredient in cough syrup).
Additionally, Auvelity, as I just eluded too, isn’t a new game changing drug. It’s a mix of two older drugs. An SNRI/Dissasociative (mostly SNRI because the Wellbutrin keeps it from metabolising into it’s fun form) and a DNRI. In other words, you’re on every form of reuptake inhibitor we use to treat depression. One that slows your liver down (meaning you wiill have side effects if you take any other drug processed through this pathway) and gets you a little disassociated, like a very small bit of ketamine.
That’s what you’re taking. I don’t know anything about neural pruning. I guess you’re talking about the need for neurogenesis to change patterns of feeling. Ketamamine (and DXM) do do this, but so do classic psychedelics.
And what new patterns you form, are going to depend on set and setting (mindset and environmental context). DXM/Wellbutrin can change part of the equation. Psychedelic therapy looks at both.
I’m not taking it I’ve seen patients take it and report how effective it is. It’s a new game changing drug combo great that we have to be picky about words. I’m confident that this is the new sertraline where everyone will be prescribed this in a few years. I learned how this drug works from a very high accolade psychiatrist so I trust him on it. And as I said at the end of my post I’m pretty sure neurogenesis is the reason these psychedelics work, but people aren’t fast tracking them because of potential for abuse and for potential of retraumatisation or worsening of other symptoms. So I’m not bashing psychedelics, just trying to offer to people a possible explanation for why these recreational drugs are working
DXM is way more abusuable than psychedelics. And, as I said, Wellbutrin is a serious liver enzyme inhibitor that won’t allow you to take any drug processed through that pathway without serious side effects.
The drug combination works by shutting down one of DXMs metabolic pathways. But because it has two, instead of causing you to overdose, it just doesn’t metabolize into DXO (a much stronger disassociative).
And both chemicals cause physical withdrawal. And, DXM itself can be addictive in a psychological sense.
I understand the hype, DXM is a fascinating compound and this is an interesting way to use it. But the drug does have serious side effects and tons of drug interactions because of the liver enzyme inhibition.
I don’t think it’s the magic bullet the pharmaicutical industry pretends it is. And having tried it myself, it wasn’t a game changer but rather made me feel like shit and made me paranoid to put any other compound in my body.
What do they mean “MDMA, also known as Ecstasy”? Isn’t MDMA just one part of Ecstasy?
(EDIT: it’s possible that the terms ecstasy and molly may have changed meanings over time)
Nope, ecstasy means MDMA. I’m an old fart out of the scene for a long time, but that’s what it meant for the first like decade or two of it’s existence. I’ve heard that at some point it started getting cut with other cheaper drugs, which is part of why people generally don’t call what you can get these days as ecstasy, they call it molly. I’ve heard that it’s very hard to get pure ecstasy anymore, apparently the large majority of what’s being sold these days is some random mix with ecstasy just being one ingredient in it.
which is part of why people generally don’t call what you can get these days as ecstasy, they call it molly.
I think you have that reversed. Molly is supposed to be just MDMA in crystal form while ecstasy is the pressed pill mixed with other stuff.
That’s what I heard too and why I got confused in the first place. Maybe it’s differing around the globe.
As an old head i can tell you, the word molly didn’t even exist until 10+ years after ecstasy became a thing. “Ecstasy” meant MDMA. If you want you can look up articles from the time and you’ll see. The meaning of the words may have switched over time, but for the first decade-ish of its existence on the scene the word “ecstasy” meant MDMA. Ecstasy originally was just MDMA, but I can imagine a situation in which the drug called ecstasy started being cut with other stuff, so people had to come up with a new word to refer to the original uncut substance again.
As MDMA is the most crucial part of ecstasy it’s commonly used as a synonym. Especially when reporting to an audience who have no drug knowledge whatsoever…
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Ecstasy is a slang word often used for MDMA. But many other drugs are sold as both and every drug you buy off the street you should test unless it’s mushrooms or weed.
