3,4-Methyl​enedioxy​methamphetamine. More known as MDMA. You have probably heard of it as it is a well known party drug. Among that, it’s also showing real promise to treat mental disorders like PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and other conditions. 

MDMA is a psychoactive drug with both stimulant, and mood enhancing effects. It appears to act by flooding the brain with neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, as well as oxytocin, prolactin, cortisol, and vasopressin. This produces feelings like euphoria and affection. MDMA got a reputation as a party drug in the 1980’s. But this is not actually what it was invented for.

In 1912, a pharmaceutical company Merck intended the drug as a parent compound to synthesize medications that control bleeding. Merck did some early experiments on animals but decided not to continue, because the chemicals used to synthesize it were too expensive. Fast forward to 1968, when a  psychedelic chemist Alexander T. Shulgin re-synthesized it. Shulgin tried it himself and introduced it to some therapist friends of his and spread it around the US and other countries as well. Inevitably, it escaped from the therapy rooms to the dance floor due to its euphoric effects.

Medication could be soon heading to FDA-approval. Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a big mover in the research for MDMA. MAPS is a non-profit organization that has so far funded a couple of large, clinical trials on treating PTSD with MDMA. MAPS has also done research on other drugs like cannabis, LSD, Ibogaine, Ayahuasca and Psilocybin. From these the most success was with MDMA. One of the tests was finished in May 2021. 90 patients with severe PTSD were randomly arranged to receive either MDMA or placebo. With trained therapists they had talk therapy before and after the trials. 2 months after sessions, 67% of participants in the MDMA group and 32% of participants in the placebo group no longer met the criteria for PTSD. 

Some scientists think that MDMA helps to open up a place in the brain called ‘’critical period”. Experts have found that when people with PTSD are given a certain amount of MDMA in a clinical setting, it helps them open up so they can work through traumatic events. FDA granted MDMA-assisted therapy “expanded access status.” This means mental health professionals can give the drug to certain people who have very severe forms of PTSD that may be life-threatening, without a clinical trial. It can also be given to people whose PTSD doesn’t respond well to other types of therapy and who can’t be part of phase III clinical trials.

MDMA-assisted therapy should not be confused with recreational ecstasy. Street drugs don’t have the same therapeutic effects, and you may not know their exact dose and purity. MDMA is currently an illegal drug and these experiments have been made for research about its potential therapeutic advantages. When MDMA is used in a controlled, clinical environment by professionals, it is not comparable to illegal MDMA. 

Taika Soihtu

Sources:
scientificamerican: mdma moves from club drug to real therapy.
National institute on drug abuse: what is the history of mdma.
WebMd: what is mdma assisted therapy
Maps.org