MDMA Use In Treatment For PTSD Approved For Final Trials; Party Drug Could Be Legally Prescribed By 2021

First Posted: Dec 08, 2016 03:00 AM EST
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MDMA, more widely known as the party drug Ecstasy or Molly, is one step away from being legally prescribed by 2021 for treatment for PTSD. Currently, the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has approved the final trials for use of MDMA in treating PTSD.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder that can be triggered by a single terrifying incident or repeated abuse. PTSD garnered a lot of interest as it is the number one affliction soldiers returning from war experience. There are many kinds of treatment for PTSD but only one of them, the use of MDMA for treatment of PTSD, is said to be more effective and long-enduring.

Now the use of MDMA in treatment for PTSD has been approved by the FDA for final trials and could be a step closer to being legally prescribed by 2012, The Guardian reports. MDMA is more popularly known by its street counterparts Molly and Ecstasy. However, unlike the use of Molly and Ecstasy as an illegal recreational drug, the use of MDMA in treatment for PTSD is in a controlled and clinical environment.

The treatment for PTSD using MDMA involves the patient taking the drug three times for several months. Dr. Michael Mithoefer, the proponent of the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, emphasizes in a report that MDMA used in the treatment is pharmaceutical grade and in controlled doses.

Right after taking MDMA, the patient undergoes an 8-hour therapy session with two trained psychotherapists present. The sessions are interspersed with ones where no MDMA is not taken before therapy.

The use of MMDA-assisted psychotherapy sessions has resulted in 83 percent of PTSD sufferers not showing signs of PTSD after treatment compared to the 25 percent who were not given the drug. The results are also long-enduring with PTSD "survivors" leading normal lives after their last treatment.

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