T-doc And Mdma

[shimmerz]

@Little Flower there are many studies that have been going on for decades since mdma and lsd were actually used successfully in therapeutic applications of psychiatric disorders. If you look at the link above (hell, I'll put it back in maps.org) they have been rallying to get psychotropics back into therapy applications for decades and the results are very good. It is an interesting history if you are interested in knowing about it.

 

[Little Flower]

K thanks shimmers. I'm always interested in learning :)

 

[shimmerz]

Anytime @Little Flower - thanks for asking. I really had no interest in this prior to my research but was having one hell of a ride and felt it was my only chance of living a decent life. It worked. I am not 100% but I am soooo much better and finally functional again.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

The one thing I know is that mdma in pure form allows you just enough information and insight so that there is a 'removal' of emotional investment of the things that it allows you clarity with. It gives you bits and pieces of the whole story - just enough to process. Ecstasy does not do this as it is mixed with other substances that can mess you up.

One thing that mdma does is create a clear and non ego driven path to things that are hidden in the brain. There is no emotional response to it - just an almost 'standing back' - just like they try to teach you in therapy. A viewing from afar so that you can analyze with your 'adult' brain but see the fragment of yourself that has been damaged. With complex PTSD this may take a few sessions as the bigger the trauma the more steps there are to clarity. I will post examples shortly.

MDMA is not needed for this type of processing, so why use MDMA at all when there are so many risks involved? I say this as I've been through a non-mainstream type of therapy which has done everything you've mentioned above without drugs, only with therapeutic techniques. Yes, I have multiple traumas stemming from childhood, and no, I have not been able to process my trauma via any other means (I had tried a LOT prior to this.)

Is it the allure of the drug? Is it the allure of the quick fix? Who knows. What I do know is that you will always need MDMA to tap into your mind in such a manner, whereas I've been through the therapy so I know the techniques for tapping into my mind in that way and can do it on my own. Of course there will be a few differences as I can do it without drugs and the effects of drugs throw in a few extra things to be dealt with.

But again, why use MDMA when I've gotten the exact results you post about without the use of drugs?

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

@shimmerz I must've been around 23 back then. That's about four years ago.
I think I wasn't completely aware of having PTSD back then. I hadn't been diagnosed with it yet, although I did have all the symptoms. So I took it more in an experimental kind of way.

Of course the mdma I took was "off the streets", actually a couple of times I developed a short fever one day after taking it. Can't say it was very healthy but I don't have any experience with the legal kind.

@Solara it probably doesn't hurt to consider these things. I know I have seen a bunch of psychiatrists and they've all prescribed a variety of pills to me that one could file under the label "hard drugs" easily and were probably equally (if not more) addictive.

 

[shimmerz]

What I do know is that you will always need MDMA to tap into your mind in such a manner

No, this is not true. I know this from experience.

Your point after this is very good though. I had forgotten to mention it which is why I am not posting about experiences yet. I learned the coping techniques prior to using mdma.
Mdma does actually speed up the process and does give very clear memories of things and puts pieces together that I wasn't even close to after several years of therapy.
This is why maps.org is fighting so hard to have it become a drug that can be used through therapy.

I also agree that many of the drugs that I was on did nothing but mess with my head and got me nowhere when it came to healing. I found that the mdma provided insight and healing rather than just squash some symptoms and perpetuate others.

 

[shimmerz]

@Radise , yes, off the street kind is not good. It also helps knowing what the directive is while taking it - so I knew I had PTSD and knew that I wanted to know certain things. I knew I triggered in the house a ton, so there is where I would session. Then I went to parks and walked amongst people - the insights at that time were incredible and de-triggered so many things.

So I feel like there are two important things - no three - here that should exist:
1. A knowledge of where there are triggers and sessioning there
2. Pure (absolutely pure) mdma
3. Someone with you to talk things through (this was not a therapist for me

Make that 4.
4. A piece of paper and pen

 

[Little Flower]

Scary

 

[shimmerz]

Yes. It was a stretch for me as I am not a drug user but after much research and careful consideration it was my only choice. It worked by far better than the various pharmaceuticals they pushed on me.

 

[shimmerz]

Scholarly articles are catching up with the efficacy of mdma for patients with treatment resistent PTSD.

Psychiatrists and psychotherapists in the US (1970s to 1985) and Switzerland (1988–1993) used MDMA legally as a prescription drug, to enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Early reports suggest that it is useful in treating trauma-related disorders. Recently, the first completed pilot study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD yielded encouraging results. Designed to test the safety and efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in patients with treatment-resistant PTSD; our randomized, double-blind, active-placebo controlled trial enrolled 12 patients for treatment with either low-dose (25 mg, plus 12.5 mg supplemental dose) or full-dose MDMA (125 mg, plus 62.5 mg supplemental dose). MDMA was administered during three experimental sessions, interspersed with weekly non-drug-based psychotherapy sessions. Outcome measures used were the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS). Patients were assessed at baseline, three weeks after the second and third MDMA session (end of treatment), and at the 2-month and 1-year follow-ups.

We found that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be safely administered in a clinical setting. No drug-related serious adverse events occurred. We did not see statistically significant reductions in CAPS scores (p = 0.066), although there was clinically and statistically significant self-reported (PDS) improvement (p = 0.014). CAPS scores improved further at the 1-year follow-up. In addition, three MDMA sessions were more effective than two (p = 0.016).

The complete article can be found at this link:
http://jop.sagepub.com/content/27/1/40.long

If interested there are other scholarly articles available through google scholar.

So many of us are affected with debilitating symptoms for life. What if this actually did work? Is it good enough to not look farther into a potential and proven aid for those with PTSD? Even if it is not your personal choice - if this stuff works as studies say it does - should we not be allowed to make a choice rather than a choice made for us?

edit to remove advertising

 

[shimmerz]

Scary

Not as scary as one might think. Living with PTSD is by far much scarier.

 

[shimmerz]

why use MDMA when I've gotten the exact results you post about without the use of drugs

Because I haven't yet posted about my experiences yet @Solara. They are fascinating.