“Healing with MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy” and Other Psychedelic Stories

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The Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies’ Winter 2014 Bulletin is freely available. Among other articles, the issue includes a personal story of a patient, “My Journey through PTSD: Healing with MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy.” There’s a conversation with a team of researchers working with MDMA, and remembrances of California chemist Sasha Shulgin. There’s also an update on efforts to build support in the US Congress for more research into the therapeutic potentials of psychedelics.

MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014

4 COMMENTS

  1. MDMA-ecstacy. I believe it is a level one one substance. Outlawed in 1985 except for use in medical research. Created in 1912 if memory serves.
    I think the whole flipping lot of them in the mental health complex have gone mad. Special-K, magic mushrooms and now MDMA? And the average idiot doesn’t think twice about it and actually defends the next “wonder” cure that psychiatry is sure to create. Vallium, Prozac, ECT, blood letting, lobotomy, Haldol, Thorazine, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics… how many more experiments before the destructive philosophy of psychiatry is shut down? They have more human lab rats than any other true science even when proven their medications are dangerous.
    At the rate it is going, you may as well tip out to the local dealer and cut out the middle man (mental health). But then you’ll be labeled an addict because the drugs on the street are cutting into the mental health/drug company profit margins. They can’t lose and you can’t win.

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    • I agree with you. They are simply running out of options. Their “happy pills” turned out not only unable to make people happy but also driving them suicidal, homicidal or simply lobotomised. Not even mentioning the physical side effects. So now they have to look for other mind-altering substances in the realm of narcotics. Ketamine for depression, amphetamine for ADHD, ecstasy for PTSD – it’s a societal disaster in the making. It’s not even that I am against people ever taking any drugs but prescribing narcotics to psychologically vulnerable people and calling them medicine is beyond me.

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  2. When I was younger, I was quite interested in “psychedelic sub-cultures”. Many of those people in MAPS, Shulgin, etc, were mostly very interested in the altered states of mind these chemicals bring on and so on. Much of the stuff those people talk about is not so directly related to modern psychiatry and pharmaceutical industry. Rather those people are actually very interested in effects of LSD, MDMA and so on, often through experiences. Pharma can’t even use chemicals such as LSD, ketamine or MDMA as a profit making chemical unless they invent some other chemical or other for they can patent, that’s probably what they’re trying to do with ketamine.

    I think the research of use of drugs such as LSD and MDMA for therapeutic purpose is quite hazy. There are not many good quality studies and many anecdotes. In any case, I perhaps kind of think that often there are adverse effects from psychiatric drugs because people use them each day, hour and year of their life. Body gets used to their effects, issues develop and so on. At least some types of psychedelic therapy ideas have the patient take one larger dose for one time, which creates an alternate mental state, which is perhaps supposed to create some transformation. I don’t know if it works well often, but it seems a different concept from taking SSRI or neuroleptic each morning.

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    • I don’t have a problem with people taking drugs and “opening the doors of perception”. I have a problem with marketing that as “medical treatment” for depression/anxiety/trauma…

      I have seen how fast one can slide down when one starts to treat narcotics as a way to cope with everyday problems. It’s fine if one uses it as means of relaxation, having fun or even to experience spiritual awakening (although even in shamanism such experiences demanded a person to be accompanied by a “guide” in order to avoid harm). I’m not OK with telling people bs about medicinal use and chemical imbalances.

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