Health/Medical
See other Health/Medical Articles
Title: A Forbidden Remedy for Veterans’ Nightmares
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/archives/2018/05 ... n-remedy-for-veterans-nightmar
Published: May 2, 2018
Author: Jacob Sullum
Post Date: 2018-05-03 06:16:23 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1600
Comments: 5
The emotional hangover from Nigel McCourry's seven months in Iraq as a U.S. Marine plagued him for years, keeping him up at nights, troubling his sleep with recurring nightmares, and isolating him from friends and family. After he was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2011, McCourry tried "weekly talk therapy and more drugs than I could keep account of," none of which helped much. The one thing that worked for McCourry, leading to "huge breakthroughs" that immediately resolved his sleep issues, was psychotherapy facilitated by MDMA, which was banned by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1985 but could be available by prescription as soon as 2021. The rehabilitation of MDMA is directly related to the rehabilitation of veterans like McCourry, who participated in a study that was reported this week in The Lancet Psychiatry. The study, sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), was conducted by Charleston, South Carolina, psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer and his wife, Ann, a psychiatric nurse. The subjects were 22 military veterans, three firefighters, and one police officer, all of whom had been diagnosed with "chronic PTSD resulting from traumatic experience during their service" and had not responded well to other treatments. The participants were randomly assigned to receive 30, 75, or 125 milligrams of MDMA in conjunction with two psychotherapy sessions separated by about a month. The lowest dose served as an "active placebo," producing physical sensations without the emotional and cognitive effects of MDMA. Neither the researchers nor the subjects knew who was receiving which amount. The results were striking. Average scores on the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), which indicates symptom severity, fell by 58 points in the medium-dose group and 43 points in the high-dose group, compared to 11 points in the low-dose group. Sixty-eight percent of the medium- and high-dose subjects no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared to 29 percent of the low-dose subjects. When people in the control group were given the opportunity to use higher doses of MDMA, they experienced additional progress. One year after the MDMA sessions, the mean CAPS score for all subjects was 39, down from 87 at the beginning of the study. These substantial, persistent improvements reinforce the results of an earlier MAPS-sponsored study that provided MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to crime victims. The next step is Phase 3 clinical trials, which is the last stage before the Food and Drug Administration decides whether to approve MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Last August the FDA streamlined that process by deeming MDMA a "breakthrough therapy," meaning it "may demonstrate substantial improvement" over existing treatments. MAPS, which says it has raised almost all of $26.7 million it needs for the Phase 3 studies, plans to begin them this summer. MDMA's promise as a psychotherapeutic catalyst is not surprising. Before its popularity as a party drug dubbed "ecstasy" made it intolerable to the DEA, therapists found MDMA useful in reducing fear and fostering trust, empathy, and candor. Now the ban that has blocked access to those benefits for more than three decades could be on the verge of being lifted. It can't happen too soon for Americans tortured by the echoes of war. Somewhere between 11 percent and 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans meet the criteria for PTSD, according to studies cited by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The department says nearly 1 million veterans are receiving compensation for disabilities that are at least partly due to PTSD. On average, about 20 veterans kill themselves every day. McCourry understands their desperation. "I had this war inside of me that would flare up without warning," he says. "I couldn't live with it anymore." Today McCourry is eager to share his "story of healing" with fellow veterans. "Veterans are committing suicide because they can't stand living with PTSD," he says, "and I think we could save a lot of these people if we just got this medicine available."
Banned Since 1985, MDMA could soon be approved as a PTSD treatment.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Deckard (#0)
Your drug loving article didn’t mention that MDMA was the YELLA drug addict loving way to refer to ECSTASY. The date rape illegal drug. “Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, is a psychoactive drug used primarily as a recreational drug.”
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Uh - no. MDMA is the medical term for ecstasy. Why would you possibly object to veterans getting treatment for PTSD using a drug that actually shows promise in helping them? You're a real dirtbag, you know that, right? The date rape illegal drug. Doubling down on your stupidity today queerbait? MDMA aka Ecstasy is not a "date rape drug.. Rohypnol is the drug that is used for that purpose.
MDMA aka Ecstasy is not a "date rape drug.. Ecstasy (MDMA), methamphetamine, and date rape (drug-facilitated sexual assault): a consideration of the issues. Review article Jansen KL, et al. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2006. Show full citation Abstract The term "date rape drug" has traditionally been applied by the media to powerful sedatives, such as gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), which can render a person unconscious and hence unable to resist and/or recall an assault. However, some law enforcement agents and others have recently obtained convictions by arguing that the empathy-generating and sensual effects of MDMA, and an occasional increase in disinhibition and sexual desire linked with methamphetamine use, remove a person's ability to give a reasoned consent, turning the person into "a helpless slave" to their own sexual desires and those of the alleged perpetrator. The argument holds that the victim becomes part of the assault because they may appear to be cooperating and colluding with activity which they would not have consented to without taking these drugs. This interpretation of the term "date rape" has been fed by data that sometimes finds MDMA and amphetamines in samples taken from sexual assault victims, and hence these prosecutions sometimes rely on expert testimony from toxicologists, pathologists and police officers rather than psychologists and psychiatrists who are expert in the human effects of these drugs. Some of those in the latter group have dismissed claims that MDMA is an aphrodisiac or a date rape drug as myths propagated by the media. In this article, these arguments and their respective strengths and weaknesses will be examined to assist professionals and others who may become involved in these cases.” Scumbag drug lovers like have been raping females with ecstasy, for YEARS now, Paultard kook.
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Sometimes They use alcohol - what's your point? Virtually any drug can be used for that purpose. Of course, you are so ignorant that you think MDMA can only be used for "nefarious" purposes. The question is - why would you let your ignorance to keep veterans from receiving MDMA to treat PTSD? Why do you hate veterans queerbait?
Wait. I thought marijuana was used to treat PTSD.
#2. To: GrandIsland (#1)
Your drug loving article didn’t mention that MDMA was the YELLA drug addict loving way to refer to ECSTASY.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#3. To: Deckard (#2)
Doubling down on your stupidity today queerbait?
#4. To: GrandIsland (#3)
(Edited)
Scumbag drug lovers like have been raping females with ecstasy, for YEARS now
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#5. To: Deckard (#4)
The question is - why would you let your ignorance to keep veterans from receiving MDMA to treat PTSD?
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]