By Alfonso Serrano — 2017
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy readies for phase III trials, a last step before possible prescription use in PTSD patients.
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Like most people of color in the United States, psychotherapist and researcher Monnica Williams has experienced myriad forms of racism. Early in her career, understanding its effects on her mind and body motivated her to help clients address their own racial trauma in therapy.
We’re seeing an explosion of medical research into psychedelics. Psilocybin, or shrooms, to treat major depressive disorder. Ayahuasca, a psychotropic plant medicine from the Amazon, and ibogaine, a potent hallucinogen from Africa, to treat addiction. LSD for anxiety.
These substances are being touted as a game-changing intervention for mental health. But it’s not clear if their promise will be accessible to all.
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Research over the last decade has shown MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to be effective in treating PTSD from military combat, sexual assault and childhood abuse. Now researchers are trialing MDMA with couples and finding promising results.
Williams is the co-lead author of a recent retrospective study that found those who tried doses of psilocybin (more commonly known as magic mushrooms), LSD, or MDMA (the pure substance found in Ecstasy or Molly) reported a decrease in trauma symptoms, depression and anxiety after 30 days.
The world’s leading advocate for the medicinal use of psychedelics on the ghost of Timothy Leary, why Ecstasy could cure PTSD, and the best place to trip in Boston.
Once considered the quintessential party drug, MDMA (also known as “ecstasy,” “X,” or “molly”) is now experiencing a surge of interest in a completely different area: psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
As the trend of microdosing illustrates, if people want to reap the benefits of a substance, they’ll find the most effective way to do it. Everyone from entrepreneurs to artists are microdosing psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline for spiritual, creative, and productive enhancement.
Demand from patients seeking help for their mental illnesses has led to underground use in a way that parallels black markets in the AIDS pandemic. This underground use has been most perilous for people of color, who face greater stigma and legal risks due to the War on Drugs.
People of color are dealing with racism all the time, in large and small ways, and even dealing with racism in healthcare, even dealing with racism in therapy.