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Every time articles like this appear on Hacker News it fills me with joy. I have personally watched a much older person heal extensive personal trauma with just
by cnp 9y ago
Every time articles like this appear on Hacker News it fills me with joy. I have personally watched a much older person heal extensive personal trauma with just one MDMA session, and to this day I regard it as a miracle that seemed impossible prior to the treatment.
MAPS is just entering into their Stage III research process after being granted a "breakthrough therapy" by the FDA (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-designates-mdma-as-breakthrough-therapy-for-ptsd/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-designates-mdma-as-breakthr...) and need all the funds they can muster. The tech community can really step up here. If you have it in you, donate what you can: https://store.maps.org/np/clients/maps/donation.jsp?campaign=11 https://store.maps.org/np/clients/maps/donation.jsp?campaign...
- parasight 9y agoWhat is an MDMA session?
- Mtinie 9y agoControlled, therapeutic dosing of MDMA.
- cnp 9y agoWhen a patient sits with a therapist under the influence of MDMA, which typically consists of two doses (100-120mg initially, then 70mg a few hours later) spread over an 6-8 hour period. The patient is largely experiencing their own internal process, but at times the therapist is there to help guide and comfort. Before and after the session there is conventional psychotherapeutic follow-up.
- bauerd 9y agoAre you sure about the doses? Doesn't sound overly therapeutic to me tbh
- ceejayoz 9y agoBased on what? They're going for a different result than just getting high - the doses aren't likely to match what one might take in a club.
- thatcat 9y agoInterestingly, they do match recreational amounts pretty closely.
- cnp 9y agoSometimes the second dose is lower, but this is the typical ballpark which is supported by research.
- civilian 9y agoFor people who are curious, here is a dosage chart: https://erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_dose.shtml https://erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_dose.shtml It's a pretty normal dose.
- yesbabyyes 9y agoIs it possible to do this, today, anywhere in the world (without getting into a study, which seems hard, especially in another country)? I am looking for help for somebody close to me.
- bdamm 9y agoOnly if you know a willing therapist.
- cnp 9y agoAnd that therapist has access to 100% _pure_ (and unfortunately illegal) MDMA. This is one of the great tragedies of the war on drugs: UN member states are bound to the convention under law, so until this unjust (and unscientific) barrier is torn down it will always be dangerous and difficult to acquire for therapeutic purposes. But things, thankfully, are changing for the better.
- benevol 9y agoIt's the powers that be (money; pharmaceutical industry) who want these substances to remain criminalized, because these substances can be way more powerful and much cheaper than anti-depressants & Co. - and without destructive side-effects. So what MDMA, LSD, psilocybin and others can do is make people much healthier and the industry a tiny bit less rich, which is only in "the people's" interest.
- komaromy 9y ago> and without destructive side-effects You can mess up your serotonin levels for an extended period of time through MDMA abuse. I guess that might be a direct effect rather than a side effect, but that doesn't seem to be your point.
- phkahler 9y ago>> You can mess up your serotonin levels for an extended period of time through MDMA abuse. You can do that with SSRIs too. You can also kill yourself with opioids. The problem is that MDMA isn't even available by prescription. The first I heard of it was on a TV special covering its use in therapy sessions - that was in the 1980s prior to the whole ecstasy fad. Why is this useful substance totally illegal, while much more harmful and addictive things are legal, available, and causing problems?
- anythingnonidin 9y agoThe dosages used in the FDA Phase 3 research are 80mg or 120mg initial dose followed by either 40mg or 60mg 1.5-2 hrs later, respectively.
- eradicatethots 9y agoAre they doing 6months and 1year follow ups? Short term relief is not that interesting to me
- anythingnonidin 9y agoYes. See this from earlier research results http://www.mdmaptsd.org/research-category.html http://www.mdmaptsd.org/research-category.html > A long-term follow-up of patients who received MDMA-assisted psychotherapy revealed that overall benefits were maintained an average of 3.8 years later.
- farnsworth 9y agoWhy two doses? Having no experience with this, 6-8 hours sounds like a long therapy session.
- empath75 9y agoAt those doses, the first few hours would be fairly mild with just a feeling of closeness, openness and comfort. The second dose would push you closer to the ‘oh my god love is everywhere why didn’t I see this before’ feeling.
- ada1981 9y agoit simply extends the time You are able to "work". It's such an enjoyable and useful process that most everyone chooses to take the booster dose. It also is a nice safety check, if the person happens to freak out or really doesn't want to continue, they can pass and come back down. But as I Said, in practice no one passes. It's also not boring or tedious as most therapies can be, it's a lovely place you want to explore.
- wutbrodo 9y agoHuh, I wonder to what extent this is dependent on the therapist understanding that you're on MDMA. I.e., would it be possible for a patient to take some MDMA (assuming you have experience with it) and then go to a therapist? I've accidentally done as much myself with close friends instead of therapists: I started partying with Molly during a period in my life where I was already starting to recognize and work through some issues from my entire childhood: the wee hours of the morning after having an amazing night dancing is a pretty ideal setting to open up mental blocks and be honest with yourself and others. (It also made me almost instantly closer to those people, whom I consider some of the most important people in my life at this point).
- et2o 9y agoAgree MDMA has incredible potential for therapy. However I think your therapist should be comfortable/trained with it - just showing up isn’t ideal.
- wutbrodo 9y agoTo be clear, I wasn't talking about myself (I'm not in therapy), just idly wondering. I'm pretty comfortable with psychedelics personally, but have less experience with MDMA specifically and my impression is that it's a lot easier to manage than eg LSD. There are plenty of psychoactive drugs that people don't think twice about managing themselves (weed, caffeine, alcohol), and I was just curious whether MDMA would fall into that category squarely enough (it's certainly easier to manage than alcohol is, for example).
- mjevans 9y agoSome people climb mountains without professional guides. Beginners usually need a trainer and a guide to at least get started and to not end up in a life risking situation. In medical science those professionals are often called doctors and nurses.
- tfha 9y agoWorth adding that a bad psychedelic experience can be quite damaging, and just like you shouldn't climb mountains without experience or a guide, you also shouldn't explore psychedelics without experience or a guide.
- dmschulman 9y agoA guided therapy session with a licensed practitioner which involves the patient taking a small dose of MDMA
- jMyles 9y agoNot typically a particularly small dose. Sometimes a fairly large dose, in the 150mg range.
- jMyles 9y agoAmazing book to answer that question: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Revealed-Myron-Stolaroff/dp/0966001966 https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Revealed-Myron-Stolaroff...
- anythingnonidin 9y agoA short web page I put together with some more info: https://rollsafe.org/mdma-therapy/ https://rollsafe.org/mdma-therapy/
- oliv__ 9y agoHi, your link looks interesting so thanks for putting that together but I just wanted to say it seems you've set the CSS property word-wrap: break-word on all elements of your site, which makes it kind of hard to read the text as words are constantly being chopped off.
- anythingnonidin 9y agoThanks for the comment. Can you share a screenshot on imgur.com by any chance? I can't reproduce the issue so would like to know what you're seeing so I can fix it.
- abarrett 9y agoResize to around 480px width and you'll see the problem.
- anythingnonidin 9y agoGot it, thanks. Will fix.
- anythingnonidin 9y agoOk should be fixed, I think.
- cnp 9y agoNice and responsive now! Thanks again for the resource.
- anythingnonidin 9y agoYes. The main barrier to more psychedelic research is funding / $$ and time - far more than anything else. In the US, access to research funding is a far larger issue than scheduling. The main benefit of rescheduling would likely be through its indirect benefits on access to funding. Source: I’ve talked with multiple researchers who are studying psychedelics. Also, I recommend reading or listening to the book Acid Test if anyone here would like to learn more.