SocietyGuardian.co.uk: Ecstasy Trials for Combat Stress
SocietyGuardian.co.uk, a website that I have never visited before today, has an interesting article on a trial of Ecstasy on American soldiers.
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.
I am not sure what to think of this. The last that I had heard was that Ecstasy could have the long-tern effect of lowering the brain’s level of serotonin.