Using Mdma Against Ptsd

[recoveringfromptsd]

The studies on MH uses for MDMA are all being approved by the DEA. And they make it clear in the study that Pharm grade MDMA is being used. In fact they make the point its not the adulterated stuff on the street.

The current study is being done by Dept of Defense.

 

[anonymous]

Yeah, department of defense, another organisation you'd be wise not to trust..

 

[Hope69]

Big pharma is not very interested in MDMA. The products used in the trials come from England I believe. There isn't much money to be made because the patient only uses it 3-5 times, unlike anti depressants which one may be on for months or years.
The research is compelling and is being done by non profits, who don't stand to gain much other than being able to help people.
I'm hopeful about this therapy and feel any potential for better treatment options should be explored. Anything being used illegally gets in the throat of the establishment, and what is available on the street is most likely got a heavy dose of stimulants such as methamphetamines or coke in it.
I've read a few articles where patients have had amazing improvement of symptoms, but that doesn't mean its for everyone. Also, a huge component is the therapy aspect. It isn't about fun but about reprocessing trauma, so not the same as dosing to escape or just feel good. Finally, the study protocols are strict, not many people qualify, and the double blind studies mean one can get a placebo or the MDMA.
I know from friends that street stuff can have a really bad come down, and can lead to depression or other unwanted side effects, so be careful!

 

[Hope69]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9iKx2MKS70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3DAI_n-PO4

 

[anthony]

I believe MDMA based therapy will become the norm in the future for helping trauma patients. Breaking down the barriers of bullshit allows the therapist to get at the crux much faster... and unbeknownst to the sufferer, being honest heals themselves faster.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

one can be honest without MDMA, a lot of patients can't get past distrust (Like I was for 5 decades), but if one really wants to get better, they can make a choice as hard as it may be to not hold anything back. That's how am dealing with therapist and other support people now. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, its mentally painful, but for me its do it or not live as I want to move above life as it has been. And yes, everyone knows I don't want to live if I can't get better.

MDMA may be the future, I can't wait. And I am not sure I would want to be using something that makes me feel weird, as it is scary enough when that happens when I have a manic episode.

 

[anthony]

@recoveringfromptsd how long have you been with your therapist?

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

only a short time, but when I started I went in with a hold nothing back mindset, and that is still the case. In fact that mindset contributed to flashbacks and such returning. Right now there are things I am dealing with that in the past would have put me in hospital, and I am not coping with that which I could not before. I could not even talk about anything before, could not trust. At php I came to a decision I did not want to be stuck like things are, and so I decided to let the walls down and not hold anything back. And that is the relation I have now with my T. In the past I would not have benefited from DBT as much, because elements of DBT require one to let go of some behaviors and do some behaviors (like distress tolerance), even the distress tolerance was a problem, it took my hospitalization at SP TDU to get me to let go of my hypervigilance and allow distress tolerance at all.

So basically I am doing what MDMA is supposed to enable. If things had happened differently MDMA may have been a new chance of hope for me. But I am doing what MDMA results in, but that started with a desire to get better, and change things, or not live at all as the alternative. And that last bit is still the same, my T and others know my view on it. But I have been up front about that. And they respect that. As long as I keep trying were all ok, if I give up, well they likely will be concerned about my safety.

As my therapist said it the other day, in the past I was not ready, now I am ready. And she is right.
Maybe if I was not ready to open mind to my T's as I do now, MDMA might be helpful. But I have opened my mind, without the B/S as I know avoidance only keeps me hurting.

The fact is in a very short time, I have come from being completely closed off, not able to risk a potential relationship of trust, and a ton of avoidance mechanisms which were even problematic when I was in the hospital recently.

IN a short time, I have moved from that above, to being able to use distress tolerance daily, and not using most of my past avoidance mechanisms.

Now I believe my case is an exception, that came by a set of circumstances. And a decision to let go of my walls I have maintained over the years. It's hard for anyone to do this or even think about starting with blind trust as I have to begin healing.

Now I can say I still feel like crap most of the time, but I felt that way before, so the difference is I have a chance to get better. I don't know if I will get better enough to change my outlook on life, but I am trying to give it a chance. If I don't get better enough at some point there may be an issue as I said before, I don't want to exist if I can't get better. Right now I am focusing on getting better, and not holding back anything.

 

[EmmaOwl]

one can be honest without MDMA, a lot of patients can't get past distrust (Like I was for 5 decades), but if one really wants to get better, they can make a choice as hard as it may be to not hold anything back. That's how am dealing with therapist and other support people now. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, its mentally painful, but for me its do it or not live as I want to move above life as it has been. And yes, everyone knows I don't want to live if I can't get better.

MDMA may be the future, I can't wait. And I am not sure I would want to be using something that makes me feel weird, as it is scary enough when that happens when I have a manic episode.

I'm quoting your whole post, @recoveringfromptsd , b/c I very much agree with everything you say here. It's dreadfully hard to open yourself up like that, but in my case I see it as my best (and perhaps only) chance to improve. I'm lucky to have a therapist who I trust implicitly... but total honesty would be my goal no matter who I was working with.

Pot never did anything but make me depressed. I've taken things a hell of a lot worse than pot - to my own detriment. And I'm currently on all kinds of prescription meds in a pathetic attempt to be stable. I am stuck on them, with a vague idea to decrease them as I improve via therapy. I really don't want to add another one, even if it is used differently. If the aim is to become more open, I don't need it. I don't hold anything back from my guy.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@Allie D. Its nice to know some besides myself is working on getting better by being 100% open and 100% honest with our T's, I am on a bunch of meds too but that's because I am a bipolar I with mixed features (meaning I can be manic and depressed at the same time or cycle between them quickly).

One of the benefits of having a relationship with my T's that incorporates my desire to be fully open and honest, is I can say things that a T with someone else who they don't have such an relation might have to wonder about the persons safety. In my case I can say things that otherwise would be alarming, but in my case they don't take it as so, they take it as brutal honest, and they know If there was more to it that changed things to a safe issue, I would be honest about.

 

[anthony]

in the past I was not ready, now I am ready

Yep, that is the biggest thing. MDMA is for those who can't approach therapy, openly and honestly. If a person uses therapy correctly, MDMA just won't be required. But for many, MDMA will be required for trauma therapy.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

MDMA is for those who can't approach therapy, openly and honestly. If a person uses therapy correctly, MDMA just won't be required. But for many, MDMA will be required for trauma therapy.

@anthony I agree 100% percent. And even for those who are ready, it's still scary, sometimes destabilizing, and everything else. There are times in this I just want to give up it is so hard, and return to the old ways of avoidance, being unsafe, and being cared for by being locked up for being unsafe. There are many times when bad memories enter my mind intrusively and I feel like cutting just to get some immediate relief to the mental pain. But being on the Naltrexone helps me from acting on impulse to do that. So I am able to say to myself I can't do that because it will ruin my chances for therapy with life crisis center the local rape/abuse recovery center (again this requires the use of distress tolerance to accomplish).

But that's where my new skill of distress tolerance comes in, prior to SP TDU it was the one thing my hypervigilance avoidance and comfort zone would not allow. Because it was forced on me in a way I had no choice but to radically accept the situation, and had no choice but to deal with the distress, it was the window towards using distress tolerance when I got discharged, because from that event I figured out that both distress tolerance and radical acceptance where my biggest problems in the DBT spectrum. When you think about it things could have happened differently, and I would not be where I am now with therapy. So in a way the stars must have just been aligned the right way for things to turn out as they did.