Psychedelic compound in ecstasy moves closer to approval to treat PTSD
In the 1990s, scientists demonstrated in rodents and humans that MDMA was reasonably safe when taken a few times in a controlled setting. The FDA permitted researchers to move forward with clinical trials exploring the drug as a treatment for PTSD.
About 8% of the US population will experience PTSD at some point in their lives… During his conference presentation, Mithoefer played a video of a former US marine under the influence of MDMA recounting the time his military jeep exploded during a tour in Iraq. The soldier, positioned on a narrow bed between Mithoefer and his wife Annie, a psychiatric nurse, describes the panic that accompanies his memories. But then, he says, an inner-voice assures him that he’ll be all right. “I feel things come up and then blow away like sand,” the marine says. Michael Mithoefer says it’s been five years since the marine’s session. “We are still in touch,” he says, “and that effect has lasted.”
Original Article (Nature):
Psychedelic compound in ecstasy moves closer to approval to treat PTSD
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