Bridging the Gap - Health Equity for all

MDMA is Triggering Seismic Changes in Consciousness for PTSD Patients

<blockquote> I loaded a Beretta 9mm. I put it to my temple, and I pulled the trigger. And the greatest peace that I felt was when that hammer fell because I knew it was going to be over. It’s only a microsecond, but when you spend day in, day out suffering, a microsecond of peace is an eternity. — <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K5sJuTbQvY">Sgt. Johnathan Lubecky</a>, who survived five suicide attempts, is an Iraq veteran and advocate for psychedelic-assisted therapy. </blockquote> The complicated legacy of America’s foreign policy over the last 20 years will continue to be debated for decades to come. Analysis aside, managing the residual effects of the war on those who bore the brunt of its horror will continue to plague us well into the future as well. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs reported that roughly 13.5% of veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq live with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and Canada has around 6,700 veterans living with the very same. Shockingly, over 114,000 veterans have died by suicide since 2001, and approximately 22 die every day by their own hands. The two approved drugs for PTSD, Zoloft and Paxil, have proven to be largely ineffective with veterans because of the intensity and length of their exposure to traumatic experiences. Simply put, our services and treatment strategies are not keeping up with the psychological and emotional devastation wrought by war. <h2>Make love, not war</h2> With desperation for a solution comes a mind more open, and an unlikely marriage is unfolding with PTSD and MDMA, the psychedelic party drug that fuels antics at raves and festivals like Burning Man. It’s no surprise that many are skeptical upon hearing that getting high as a kite could be considered a way out of this mess. The pseudo-spiritual component among some recreational users that claims that there are “healing” properties of such drugs makes for rolling eyes in medical circles, but some were curious enough to see what merit there is in a strictly clinical setting. After all, we do know that psychedelics — which encompass MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, ketamine, and more — certainly have profound effects on the mind and the way people think. MDMA, AKA ecstasy, is a party favorite for good reason: it floods users with intense euphoria while also reducing fear responses and imparting a sense of love, self-acceptance, and empathy for others. These make for very fertile therapy conditions indeed. However, opening minds so drastically is also a core reason why there’s so much concern about the use and abuse of psychedelics, and why policymakers have been hesitant to loosen up laws. Before the conservative crackdown on these substances in the late ‘60s, there was research with impressive results; for example, with treating alcoholics. But the social stigma that came to dominate the narrative around these substances gripped the public mind and vanquished any notion of them having any utility in the medical realm. It took decades to convince governments to allow responsible researchers to cautiously open testing again and see if something worthwhile could be found. And find they did. <h2>The psychedelic renaissance?</h2> We are living through something of a renaissance with psychedelic drugs. Experts increasingly favour them for their “game-changing” abilities with treatment-resistant mental health issues like PTSD. These aren’t fringe voices either: Johns Hopkins University, one of the US’s top medical institutions, opened an entire center for psychedelic studies a few years ago, and similar developments have taken place at esteemed colleges in England and Sweden. This was a big step forward for the burgeoning field since it adds scientific credibility to a practice that’s often bogged down by baggage, including accusations of being too closely connected to crackpot theorists and general woo. In highly controlled and safe settings, clinicians and therapists have been coordinating studies into how these drugs work and what use they hold for a variety of mental disturbances. A growing body of evidence has shown breakthroughs with numerous conditions where only a fraction of patients responded previously. In 2016, a trial involving terminal cancer patients struggling to cope with the mental anguish of dying showed that over 80% of participants were significantly less depressed six months later. There was also a cohort of smokers who underwent a psychedelic therapy trial, and 67% managed to quit the habit in the wake of treatment (compared to 35% with conventional strategies). Then there’s PTSD. This condition has shown some of the most remarkable results of all: one landmark trial involved 28 subjects who all had clinically diagnosed PTSD that had stuck around for an average of 30 years. Conventional treatments like medication and psychotherapy had failed to make progress with these people. The theory behind MDMA’s effect on PTSD is that it appears to reduce activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that’s responsible for your fear response. This allows the subject to confront their trauma without being overwhelmed by it. Across two days participants received MDMA doses in a controlled setting followed by therapy sessions to process what happened, and at the one-year mark post-therapy, the researchers found that 76% no longer met the clinical criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. That is nothing short of incredible. <figure><img alt src="https://cdn.storymd.com/optimized/KAM6MysLo7/original.jpg" /> <figcaption>A description of scientific research on links between the amygdala and PTSD. Source: EternallyOptimistic/Wikimedia.</figcaption> </figure> <h2>Rick Doblin and MAPS</h2> The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has been spearheading research and advocacy in this field for some time. MAPS conduct their own therapy sessions, and Rick Doblin, the head of MAPS, recalled in a speech their success with treating one particular vet whose PTSD was characterized by extreme, uncontrollable rage. Doblin quoted the vet as having said he felt “…so much more at peace with everything. Even when I try and think about Iraq, I somehow feel really peaceful about the fact that that's my journey.” Doblin himself provided some insight into the therapy process: “We basically have a three-and-a-half-month process: 40 hours of therapy, three MDMA sessions, three to five weeks apart. “The sessions are eight hours long, people spend the night in the treatment center, then the next day they get several hours of integrative psychotherapy with a male–female co-therapy team. And after people go home, they have a phone call every day for a week just to check in.” <h2>Some sobering thoughts </h2> This is all very promising, but there are important caveats. Concerns around the abuse potential with psychedelics are not unfounded. Addiction is not associated with psychedelics — besides ketamine, they generally don’t have the same physical dependency that corrupts the brain as with cocaine or heroin — but for those with a history of mental illness, they may be more vulnerable to developing psychosis, even well after the trip has ended. Effects on the general population are not to be underestimated either. These are powerful drugs that can incur a terrifying experience if taken in the wrong environment or frame of mind (the “set and setting” of the trip). Horrifying hallucinations can happen, or a user could be involved in all sorts of accidents owing to impaired judgment. That’s why most advocates emphasize that their push for legalization is strictly for safe and controlled settings for maximum safety and benefits. <h2>Canadian therapy and investment options</h2> It’s for reasons like this that Health Canada strictly allowed only medical and therapeutic applications when legalizing these drugs up north. In January of this year, Health Canada expanded legislation beyond palliative care, and the substances available for therapy include magic mushrooms and ketamine too. Companies are developing their own custom psychedelic treatments in Canada, like Braxia Scientific Corp. This group is creating rapid onset treatments targeting numerous issues, like depression, existential crises, substance abuse disorders, and PTSD, and they also act as a research and treatment center. You can even invest in such companies via the Toronto stock exchange, for example, by using the SHRM ticker. Magic mushrooms — not your dad’s stock of choice, that’s for sure. <h2>More on PTSD</h2><ul><li><a href="https://soulivity.storymd.com/journal/rjyggga0yj-post-traumatic-stress-disorder" target="_blank">Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment</a></li><li><a href="https://soulivity.storymd.com/journal/6we7kxqc5j-ptsd-treatment" target="_blank">Trauma-Focused Therapy and Medications for PTSD</a></li><li><a href="https://soulivity.storymd.com/journal/j68bxl2fzm-mdma" target="_blank">MDMA (Ecstasy, Molly): History and Health Effects</a></li></ul>

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