Ecstasy For Agony?

Forgive the play on the original title; I couldn't help myself. All kidding aside, though, this piece in Mother Jones has some fascinating things to say about the uses of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, as part of a particular course of psychological therapy for PTSD.

The article is informative on several counts, primarily in discussing studies into the use of MDMA in exposure-based therapies, where clients repeatedly confront their fears in a safe, controlled environment.

"The therapy requires patients to confront their anxieties, but researchers believe medication — including MDMA — can help by making the patient feel safer, more in control, more able to process emotions and less evasive or dispirited."

And did you know that MDMA was being studied as a therapy for psychiatric symptoms back in the 80's? I didn't, but I also wasn't surprised to read the history of our government's ban on the drug and how that ban slowed research for many years. Once again, we're reminded that according to US drug policy, "If it feels good, don't do it -- even if it's good for you."

Finally, the article provides a good overview of exposure therapy. According to the two Norwegian scientists interviewed by Mother Jones,

"There is a common misconception that psychotherapy is a really long process of vaguely defined 'talking' and that it probably isn't that effective anyway. Actually, exposure therapy (in particular "prolonged exposure therapy," as developed by Dr. Edna Foa at the University of Pennsylvania) is short-term, structured, based on scientific behavioral principles of conditioning and extinction, and validated by many controlled studies. For most patients, exposure therapy has clinically significant effects on anxiety after a few hours, and for PTSD, exposure therapy has demonstrated long-term positive results after 10 to 12 hourlong weekly therapy sessions."

If you have an interest in any of these subjects, take a moment and check out the full article.