Post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a disorder that affects countless people around the world today. This article discusses the experience of a woman suffering from PTSD named Rachel Hope. Hope suffered from PTSD that stemmed from sexual abuse received during childhood and a life threatening car accident. In an effort to try something new and different, Hope reached out to Dr. Mithoefer. Dr. Mithoefer was doing a study in which he gave patients suffering from PTSD MDMA (Ecstasy). After receiving the treatment, Hope stated that she was all of a sudden aware of how her brain was wired and allowed her to revisit her trauma. After her MDMA-assisted session, Hope estimated that roughly 80% of her PTSD related symptoms had disappeared. In addition to this, she stated that about another 10% of the symptoms she was experiencing disappeared of the next few weeks. In this study, 19 participants were involved. From the results, it was determined that roughly two thirds of the participants showed significant improvement in their symptoms more than three years later. Mithoefer and his colleagues determined this to be "meaningful sustained reductions." To emphasize how significant the results of this study were, the researchers used a systems called the CAPS score to determine the level of severity. On the CAPS questionaire, a score of 50 shows moderate to severe symptoms. Before the treatment, Hope's score on this was an 86. After treatment, Hope's score had dropped to a the level of 14.
Although, this treatment has been shown to improve the quality of life for many of the patient involved in this study, it is still somewhat of a controversial method of treatment for the sufferers of PTSD. With that said, do you think the use of a drug such as MDMA, which is commonly catergorized as a party drug, has potential to be used in the future in the medical world? Will people be receptive to using a drug that generally has a negative stigma associated with it?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/03/health/ecstasy-ptsd-3/index.html?hpt=he_t3
I feel like the dosage and the frequency with which the patients receive this treatment are important factors. MDMA is a stimulant and there are both symptoms and withdrawal symptoms associated with taking the drug. For example, MDMA impairs seratonin functioning, which may lead to cognitive deficits such as memory loss. I feel like the fact that it was an “MDMA-assisted session” is also very important. MDMA is a party drug, but at high doses it can produce hallucinatory effects and if you have PTSD, re-experiencing the traumatic event in that state unsupervised could be dangerous because you may not be aware that the memory of the event isn’t the same as the actual event. However, psychologically MDMA helps increase sensory perception and emotional responsiveness, so maybe it helps the patients process the event and emotions and gain a new perspective? The results from the article seem to indicate that it does make a beneficial difference, and for that reason I do think that MDMA may have future in the medical world. As for the negative stigma, that will eventually decrease if studies continue to provide evidence that there are certain benefits to MDMA usage and if the adverse side effects become more manageable, but until then I feel that MDMA usage should not go unmonitored.
ReplyDeleteI feel that a drug to assist PSTD could be a big break through. Every day there are hundreds of soldiers returning from the war with this condition. PSTD takes a long time to recover from, if recovery ever becomes possible. MDMA, as we learned in class, has no long term side effects. So, i believe that it's medical use, being monitored, can give PSTD patients hope for recovery. I met a man who came home from the war and then got mugged. So his PSTD was very severe. His only comfort was in his service lab. I feel like a treatment would give him some independence back. Although, i love dogs, especially labs, they have a limited life span. MDMA could shorten recovery and avoid long term service dog needs
ReplyDeleteI actually did a report on this last year for another class. Using MDMA during a session with a therapist to treat PTSD has definitely been proven to be effective. It is unfortunate that this drug is mostly used for inappropriate reasons in inappropriate situations, but hopefully with more research people will become more informed about the potential effects of this drug. Expanding on the concept of using popular drugs to treat real psychological illnesses, there are many other drugs that people view in a very negative light that actually have potential for very positive uses as medicine. For example, psilocybin and LSD have both been shown to help treat OCD, depression, and cluster headaches, for weeks to months after one use. If the stigma on these drugs can be lifted, it could help millions of people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gloria, the amount and frequency of MDMA usage would be an important element. I think that if I were being treated for MDMA and a psychologist wanted me to take MDMA for every session, I would be skeptical and most likely request different treatment. However, I think that using it in some of the sessions could be very beneficial. There have been multiple studies conducting using other cognitive-altering drugs. I researched LSD use in therapies and other situations a few years ago for a research paper. I found that in many situation it made it easier for the patients to retrieve memories or even just open up about their problem. These drugs can also help patients to think about their experience in different ways, which can be very beneficial if a professional is there to provide guidance. I think that this treatment has great potential to help those that are open to it, however I can completely understand the fact that people are a little weirded out by the usage of "party drugs" in professional settings.
ReplyDeleteWell, since MDMA is a serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrin agonist, it makes sense that it could be good at helping patients with PTSD. I doubt they are giving them a hallucinogenic dose, but even a small dose, which would bring feelings of euphoria would help. By asking a patient to relive their experience,(a common therapeutic technique in PTSD treatment) while on a drug that stimulates the release of some 'feel good' neurotransmitters, you put that reliving experience in a context where that person is chemically programmed to not feel as badly. I would be interested in seeing if any drug that works on neurotransmitters like the ones MDMA does, as well as endorphins and endogenous cannabinoids.
ReplyDeleteI feel that rather than actually prescribing MDMA to patients that are suffering from PTSD, it should only be used during sessions with a licensed psychiatrist. That way it is less likely that people will be able to obtain and use this 'party drug' in recreation settings. Also, as far as the negative connotations of MDMA are concerned, if extensive scientific evidence continues to show up that those suffering from PTSD show markedly lower symptoms of PTSD, then the negative stigmas will continue to decrease.
ReplyDeleteThe psychological effects of MDMA are increased sensory perception and emotional responsiveness, which are both helpful in PTSD treatment. The success rate of this treatment is hard to ignore or contribute to other factors, so I believe it is a worthwhile treatment to pursue. However, MDMA is a controlled substance, so I agree with the comment above that it should only be administered to patients in a controlled environment where a doctor or psychiatrist is present. Prescribing it could have many consequences. For example, it could really help a patient and he or she could abuse it; or it might not actually help the patient, in which case there would be a full bottle of ecstasy just lying around asking to be abused or stolen. It would also be more practical to have the drug administered in a controlled environment because a doctor would be there to talk the patient through the traumatic events he or she would be remembering. The controlled environment requirement could also reassure those who view this drug and treatment negatively because the doctor would be able to more closely adjust and observe the dose to achieve the best results.
ReplyDeleteMDMA's use in PTSD treatment has been a hot debate for the last few years despite its status as a controlled substance a number of studies have shown that it can be very beneficial. MDMA creates increased feelings of happiness and euphoria. This has been shown to help patients who are discussing past traumas feel safer and more secure. As far as its potential dangers, most studies have shown that the primary risks involved with taking MDMA come from that fact that it is almost never found in pure form. If I remember correctly a study in the early 2000's which looked at the purity of MDMA confiscated by police in Texas found about %75 was mixed with some other drug which was commonly amphetamines. I think that if it is used in a clinical setting there is no reason why MDMA should not at least be further researched as a treatment for PTSD.
ReplyDeleteAlso here is a good article discussing some of the same thing-
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2004887,00.html