Ecstasy may help trauma victims

MDMA, the drug commonly known as ecstasy, can help treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when used in conjunction with psychotherapy, according to a study published today in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

The finding, if replicated, will be historic: the first time that MDMA has been shown to offer therapeutic benefits to patients when used in clinical practice.

MDMA was used as a therapy drug from the late 1970s despite there being little scientific evidence for its effectiveness. In what was called the second summer of love in the late 1980s, it escaped to the dance floor and was banned before any clinical human trials could be performed.

To better understand potential benefits of the drug, Michael Mithoefer, a psychiatrist and clinical researcher practising privately in South Carolina, and colleagues gave either MDMA or a placebo to 20 patients with PTSD, mostly female victims of sexual abuse, who had not responded to conventional drugs.

Subjects were given two eight-hour psychotherapy sessions three to five weeks apart, during which they were administered MDMA or a placebo. Over the course of the experiment volunteers also took part in weekly psychotherapy sessions.

The volunteers were tested for symptoms of PSTD before and after each treatment, as well as two months later. Out of 12 participants who received MDMA, 10 saw significant improvements in their condition - no longer having symptoms that met the medical definition of PTSD - compared with two of the eight participants who received the placebo.

Mithoefer says the results are very encouraging, but notes that this was a preliminary study and the results need to be reproduced:

[Thanks Gaugenmaier!]