#Middlebury #MDMA #PTSD #AUD
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
With money from the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024, a $1.5 million grant program is beginning a study using Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted (MDMA, also known as ecstasy) psychedelic therapy for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Department of Veterans Affairs will hook up with researchers at Yale and Brown universities to use the drug along with psychotherapy. The goal, says a news release, is to use the drugs to “increase emotional openness, reduce fear and promote introspection during therapy.” Test subjects will be given either the real dose or a low dose as a placebo.
The West Haven VA Medical Center in Connecticut and the Providence VA Medical Center in Rhode Island are the sites for the study, and they’re starting soon.
The standard PTSD treatment using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) doesn’t work on approximately one-third of people. The difference between the two (SSRI vs. MDMA) is how much serotonin is released. While the SSRI class of drugs blocks the release of serotonin, MDMA aids it, bringing feelings of euphoria … hence the street name “ecstacy.”
MDMA isn’t going to be the whole answer, however. Treatment will need to be in conjunction with therapy and under highly controlled circumstances. In any event, it will be the first time since the 1960s that they’ve tried psychedelic-assisted therapy.
There are those who worry about going down this road, as well they should. Once it gets out that the VA is actually doing studies on using a street drug as a treatment, those who suffer from PTSD or AUD might decide to take matters into their own hands and self-medicate. The potential for disaster comes from the amount of the drug to be used. In therapy the amount will be minuscule. With a drug acquired on the street, there’s no telling what’s really in it, and there will be no accompanying therapy.
If you want to participate in the VA study, your first step will be to contact your care team at the local VA medical facility to ask for a referral.
© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
