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News: Ecstasy good for some

J

j00lz

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
48
I'm guessing a news editor must have had a good week-end... :)

http://www.watoday.com.au/world/ecstasy-good-for-some-doctors-20100719-10h52.html

Ecstasy good for some: doctors
July 19, 2010 - 12:26PM

The party drug can help victims of post traumatic stress disorder.
Ecstasy can help the tortured victims of post traumatic stress disorder overcome their demons, research has shown.

In tests, the illegal dance drug had a dramatic effect on previously untreatable patients who had suffered the disorder for more than 19 years.

Doctors in the US held two eight-hour psychotherapy sessions three to five weeks apart for the patients during which they administered the ecstasy chemical MDMA.

Two months later, 80 per cent of those treated no longer had symptoms that met the medical definition of PTSD.

Ten of the 12 patients given ecstasy responded to the treatment, said the researchers led by Dr Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Santa Cruz, California.

In contrast, just two out of eight patients offered a ''dummy'' placebo showed an improvement.

Three individuals so badly affected by their condition that they could not hold down a job were able to return to work.

The scientists have now had the go-head from the US regulatory body, the Food and Drug Administration, to carry out a bigger study of US war veterans. It will look at the effect of different doses of MDMA on ex-soldiers traumatised by their experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

PTSD is characterised by exaggerated and uncontrolled fear responses triggered by memories of a traumatic event.

It can affect victims of accidents, natural disasters, violent crime or acts of war for many years. Sufferers are prone to nightmares, flashbacks, and levels of ''jumpiness'' and anxiety that can make it impossible to live a normal life.

The aim of the study was to see if ecstasy, or MDMA, could be used to help patients revisit their traumatic experiences without being overcome by terror.

MDMA, which induces feelings of euphoria, well-being, sociability and self-confidence, appears to reduce this effect, giving the therapy a chance to work.

MDMA boosts levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which influences mood, and various hormones. One of those affected is oxytocin, the ''love'' hormone that increases feelings of trust and bonding.

PA
 
Saw this in the MX today on the way to work. Interesting read.
The same point was brought up in the doco 'ecstasy rising'.
Sadly, its a point that many politicians refuse to accept as true.
 
nice find, glad to see they're still doing tests, it was my understanding that the U.K were the only 1st world country that was still doing trials.

I find it interesting that it says
MDMA, which induces feelings of euphoria, well-being, sociability and self-confidence, appears to reduce this effect, giving the therapy a chance to work.

MDMA boosts levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which influences mood, and various hormones. One of those affected is oxytocin, the ''love'' hormone that increases feelings of trust and bonding.
Click to expand...

Which whilst all us bluelighters know, normally the public only hears about the rare bad side affects of MDMA.

Always nice to see someone somewhere fighting for a good cause.
I've been a firm believer for awhile now that medical MDMA is definately something that should become available if prescribed. Also interesting that they had an 80% success which I remebmer is identical from the 2008 U.K trials.
 
It's also funny that the pictures they use are of Green Apples and nikes, both of which are some terrible pipes.
 
thestudent14 said:
nice find, glad to see they're still doing tests

...

Always nice to see someone somewhere fighting for a good cause.
I've been a firm believer for awhile now that medical MDMA is definately something that should become available if prescribed. Also interesting that they had an 80% success which I remebmer is identical from the 2008 U.K trials.
Click to expand...

Great news that tests are still being done, and as in the past are finding positive results :)

I disagree that medical MDMA should be prescribed, at least to start with. I think a more prudent step would be to first legalise it's use in a controlled psychotherapeutic setting such as the one discussed, as that's the condition under which it's been shown to be effective. Even beyond that I think it'd be difficult to justify prescribing MDMA, though I'd be interested if anyone has good arguments for why it should.
 
My first personal experience with mdma (in the mid 90's - I am getting old) was an eye opener. It made me aware of aspects of my personality/psyche that I hadn't even contemplated before. I can certainly see how it could be very useful in a therapeutic setting.
 
It's also funny that the pictures they use are of Green Apples and nikes, both of which are some terrible pipes.
Click to expand...

haha my first though when i saw the pictures.

its nice to know i should be able to over come post traumatic stress at any stage of my life :P
 
I'm pretty post traumatically stressed by all the awful pingers going around at the moment! Can I get some MDMA please?
 
j00lz said:
^
Yes, unfortunately Politics and Logic are separate beasts.
Click to expand...

Thats sadly very true however with articles comming out like this in a mainstream media it goes to show that in time things may change, the scene dispite being around a while IMO is still very young.

The younger generations are begining to experiment more often now and attitudes are changing and as long as they remain educated about what they are taking maybe oneday things may change.

"An educated drug used is a good drug user" - Groove.
 
Mate showed me this article from Time.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2004887,00.html?xid=rss-topstories-polar

Ecstasy Shows Promise in Relieving PTSD
by By JOHN CLOUD Tuesday, Jul. 20, 2010

Ecstasy has always been an unusual drug of abuse. Its high is complicated: there is euphoria, certainly, and an amphetamine kick. But because ecstasy causes the brain to flood with serotonin and oxytocin — two chemicals heavily implicated in emotion — it has the atypical ability to precipitate both introspection and sociability. Despite the dreadful, serotonin-depleted ecstasy hangovers known as "suicide Tuesdays," users have for many years promoted the drug's salutary features. Still, are we ready for ecstasy to be thought of as medicine?

On July 19, the Journal of Psychopharmacology reported the results of the first randomized, controlled trial of ecstasy, which is known to chemists as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA. The study's authors — led by Dr. Michael Mithoefer, a South Carolina psychiatrist — gave MDMA or a placebo to patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) whose condition had not been alleviated by any standard combination of psychotherapy and antidepressants. The new paper showed that ecstasy is not only safe when administered in controlled settings but also remarkably effective in treating PTSD in conjunction with psychotherapy.

Given the controversial nature of their study, the authors write in an all-business tone — the word ecstasy does not appear anywhere in the article. They begin by noting that PTSD is a serious mental-health problem — it is diagnosed in roughly 8% of Americans and as many as 1 in 5 U.S. servicemen and -women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq — and that we have little clue about how to treat it.

An esteemed psychologist specializing in PTSD, Edna Foa, has noted that government-approved drugs like Paxil and Zoloft are effective in only about 20% of PTSD patients. Talk treatment known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works much better — a majority of PTSD patients show some improvement after a course of CBT sessions. But roughly one-quarter of PTSD patients drop out of CBT, partly because it requires them to discuss searingly painful events.

The basis for using ecstasy in PTSD treatment is that the drug dramatically reduces immediate anxieties, allowing the user to open up emotionally, even as the body and brain are energized by the drug. Clubgoers like this effect because it allows them to party for hours. But Mithoefer's team wondered if this sensation could be harnessed for therapy.

It's not a new idea. Before the federal government made ecstasy illegal in 1985, the drug was used among a small but enthusiastic group of progressive psychotherapists around the world. (I discuss its history in this 2000 TIME cover story.) But the Journal of Psychopharmacology paper marks the first time the FDA and the Drug Enforcement Administration have allowed a scientific study on MDMA. It took the authors more than a decade to get approval for the research, which began in 2004.

Because of budget and time restraints, only 20 participants could be recruited, which is the study's biggest flaw — it's very small. Still, the most rigorous scientific methods were applied: the volunteers were randomized to receive either a placebo or MDMA. Those who administered the pills did not know whether they were giving the drug or the placebo. The participants were housed overnight after they took their pill, and they had to speak with a nurse every day for a week afterward. More important, they had to undergo continuous psychotherapy, with sessions before, during and after two separate MDMA experiences. Emergency physicians were on hand in case anyone had an adverse reaction.

No one had an adverse reaction, even though all participants were difficult cases — long-term PTSD patients whose anxiety had not been alleviated by any traditional treatment method. These were patients prone to frequent anxiety attacks, and yet the MDMA caused none to panic.

Ten of the 12 patients (83%) who were given MDMA no longer showed PTSD symptoms after two months of treatment — in fact, they didn't even qualify as PTSD patients any more. Only two of the eight patients in the placebo group showed such improvement. Three MDMA patients who had told researchers they could not work because of their PTSD returned to their jobs after their MDMA sessions.

The results are remarkable — any pharmaceutical company would be thrilled with an 83% recovery rate at two months. But the scientists are appropriately cautious about what it means. The major problem, again, is the small sample size, although most so-called Phase II trials, like this one, aren't very large. (Phase I trials show that a drug is safe; Phase II trials show that a drug is effective; Phase III trials — the final test before a drug can be put on the market — reconfirm safety and effectiveness in a very large, diverse sample.)

Another problem may be related to the placebo response: the patients who did well on MDMA knew they were involved in a study of a drug so potent that the government had outlawed it. They probably expected to feel better, and that expectation can be powerful.

Still, the new paper represents the first time in a generation that psychedelic drugs have been taken seriously as treatment. And it offers a new hope for patients whose PTSD may require an unusual approach.
 
awesome to hear. Keep this thread to the good news coming in. Moment someone ruins my natural high by saying all this is getting canned will not be in my good books.

MDMA ~ The drug that just keeps on giving.
 
This research study was also featured on 'Hack' on triple j the other night and they aired part of an interview with one of the scientists/doctors (pretty sure it was Rick Doblin who was running the study). He commented that while the results were very positive, the possibility of MDMA becoming available as a prescription medicine was highly unlikely.

I'll see if they post the interview online anytime soon and repost it up here if i can.
 
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