19-08-2011, 03:09 AM
The Agony and the Ecstasy: The Quiet Mission to Fight PTSD With Psychedelic Drugs
Posted by Brian_Anderson on Tuesday, Aug 16, 2011
Photo illustration by: Kamran Samimi
Michael and Annie Mithoefer's patients come to their clinic in Charleston, South Carolina, as a last resort on a grueling tour of duty. Unable to shake what they've experienced, witnessed or carried out, on orders or otherwise, in the suburbs of Baghdad or the valleys of Helmand Province, they're wracked by the relentless mental sirens of post-traumatic stress. They've sought out the husband-wife team because no other therapy has made it all stop. They're up for anything.
The Mithoefer's are upfront: should trauma not surface at the patient's behest, well, then at a certain point they'll make it surface. The process can be painful, and spans hours, so patients arrive mid-morning. After final "set" preparations each subject is handed one small, curious capsule. It's 10AM and they're ingesting ecstasy.
The daylong sessions that follow are part of a small, open-label Phase II study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans. The experiment examines how 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as ecstasy, may alleviate the crippling, long-term horrors of "chronic, treatment-resistant, combat-related PTSD" when administered at low doses and in controlled settings.
Read more at link below:
http://motherboard.tv/2011/8/16/the-agon...elic-drugs
Posted by Brian_Anderson on Tuesday, Aug 16, 2011
![[Image: ecstasy-psychedelics-ptsd_large.jpg?1313615375]](http://assets.motherboard.tv/post_images/assets/000/010/498/ecstasy-psychedelics-ptsd_large.jpg?1313615375)
Photo illustration by: Kamran Samimi
Michael and Annie Mithoefer's patients come to their clinic in Charleston, South Carolina, as a last resort on a grueling tour of duty. Unable to shake what they've experienced, witnessed or carried out, on orders or otherwise, in the suburbs of Baghdad or the valleys of Helmand Province, they're wracked by the relentless mental sirens of post-traumatic stress. They've sought out the husband-wife team because no other therapy has made it all stop. They're up for anything.
The Mithoefer's are upfront: should trauma not surface at the patient's behest, well, then at a certain point they'll make it surface. The process can be painful, and spans hours, so patients arrive mid-morning. After final "set" preparations each subject is handed one small, curious capsule. It's 10AM and they're ingesting ecstasy.
The daylong sessions that follow are part of a small, open-label Phase II study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans. The experiment examines how 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as ecstasy, may alleviate the crippling, long-term horrors of "chronic, treatment-resistant, combat-related PTSD" when administered at low doses and in controlled settings.
Read more at link below:
http://motherboard.tv/2011/8/16/the-agon...elic-drugs
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.â€
Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller