Study Suggests Ecstasy Could Help PTSD Patients
By: Colin Clarke
Updated: July 19, 2010
Researchers are looking at ecstasy as a possible way to treat U.S. war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Santa Cruz, California says the party drug was able to help PTSD patients get more out of their therapy in a very small clinical trial.
The drug, known clinically as MDMA, was administered to 12 patients going to therapy for prolonged PTSD, while a control group of eight patients got a placebo.
Two months after therapy, ten of the patients who got the drug showed a vast improvement, while just two in the placebo group showed improvement.
The Food and Drug Administration has since given the green light for a larger study involving about 40 military veterans with combat-related PTSD.
The California researchers are also still keeping an eye on the patients in the original trial to determine the long-term effects of using MDMA in therapy.
The study is published in the "Journal of Psychopharmacology."
(Copyright 2010 by VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions)
