Earlier this week, recent updates in psychedelic research irrefutably proved the therapeutic efficacy of MDMA. This would mean that many of the former negative claims about this substance were essentially fabricated with misinterpreted and biased scientific studies, and over-generalized statistics. These scientific studies of course cannot account for what any sort of street-grade ecstasy may be cut with, nor can it account for the type of positive or negative using habits that a certain individual may embody. Modern science has been able to demonstrate over and over at this point that MDMA is in fact perhaps the single most useful chemical substance with treating social neurosis–things like anxiety, depression, poor communicating skills, and especially issues like obsessive compulsive disorder and PTSD.

From a psychoanalytical sense, all these symptoms and other forms of neuroses could be considered shades of PTSD, since they all represent barricades to healthy thoughts through trauma contracted from lifetime experience (what could be considered as a CoEx System). This is functionally similar to scar tissue in a joint that impedes the overall mobility of the limb it represents, and even the entire body to an extent; comparably, neurosis is this to the brain, and can be analogically represented as a brick wall in the middle of a road–MDMA being the wrecking ball in this case.







The most recent study published on the matter is entitled “Effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on socioemotional feelings, authenticity, and autobiographical disclosure in healthy volunteers in a controlled setting” and that pretty much says it all. The abstract of the study read,

“…MDMA positively altered evaluation of the self (i.e. increasing feelings of authenticity) while decreasing concerns about negative evaluation by others (i.e. decreasing social anxiety). Consistent with these feelings, MDMA increased how comfortable participants felt describing emotional memories. Overall, MDMA produced a prosocial syndrome that seemed to facilitate emotional disclosure and that appears consistent with the suggestion that it represents a novel pharmacological class.”

Another recent study from 2015, entitled, “Intimate insight: MDMA changes how people talk about significant others” further illustrates the point. The conclusion of the abstract read,

“These findings are consistent with reports that MDMA acutely alters speech content, specifically increasing emotional and social content during a brief semi-structured dyadic interaction. Studying effects of psychoactive drugs on speech content may offer new insights into drug effects on mental states, and on emotional and psychosocial interaction.”

The final study worth mentioning entitled, “The safety and efficacy of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder: the first randomized controlled pilot study” published in 2011, is the most recent study to clarify the substance’s effects on the user, both short-term and long-term. The sum total of the study’s point is quoted as:

“There were no drug-related serious adverse events, adverse neurocognitive effects or clinically significant blood pressure increases. MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be administered to post traumatic stress disorder patients without evidence of harm, and it may be useful in patients refractory to other treatments.”







The only real question at this point in terms of using this chemical with a psychotherapeutic methodology is whether someone could find an individual willing to listen to the user open up and express these therapeutic neuronal realizations; because, unfortunately, as it stands, no licensed psychotherapist in their right mind would be able to help an individual under the influence of MDMA in a clinical setting, as it would have massive federal implications if recognized by authorities. Ecstasy is the only known instant-acting anxiolytic, which means that in the psychosocial terms described above, it has some of the most extensive prerequisites for psychotherapy administration. So, why is it still a Schedule 1 substance in the United States?

Sources: http://jop.sagepub.com/content/25/4/439.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr, http://www.psypost.org/2016/02/mdma-makes-it-easier-to-describe-emotional-memories-to-your-therapist-40965, http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/02/12/0269881115626348.abstract, http://www.psypost.org/2015/04/ecstasy-and-language-mdma-changes-how-people-talk-about-their-significant-others-33924, http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/23/0269881115581962.abstract