Illness
Let’s talk about illness. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder which develops after a very serious and damaging event, such as war combat, being in a car crash or a whole multitude of pain inflicting life events, mental and physical. Symptoms include and aren’t limited to things such as re-living said past events through nightmares or flashbacks, increased alertness and lashing out in fits of rage, and tending to avoid people or places that have any connection to the traumatic life event. The medication that doctors prescribe for PTSD today are either psychotherapy sessions, or two other types of medication.
Pharmacy pills, [7]
Dr. John Krystal, director of the clinical neurosciences division at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center for PTSD, outlined these methods in an email to Healthline.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs has rolled out two forms of psychotherapy for PTSD that are supported by a compelling body of evidence supporting their effectiveness and tolerability: Progressive Exposure Therapy or Cognitive Processing Therapy,” he wrote. “By ‘rolled out,’ I mean that a tremendous effort has been made on a national basis to train therapists in the VA to deliver these treatments in ways that have been demonstrated to be effective for many patients.” [1].
Progressive Exposure Therapy (PET) is a form of psychotherapy which acts to help the patient overcome their fear by exposing them to little doses of said fear, one session at a time. For example, if you’re like me and you’re petrified of spiders (arachnophobia), then you might seek PET. What would happen in these therapy sessions, is your therapist would go step by step, introducing you to spiders. Starting off with getting you to create images and scenarios in the mind, all the way to holding one.
In terms of effectiveness of this treatment, a study was conducted in 2012 in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. In this study it was said that Prolonged Exposure (another form of psychotherapy used to treat patients) ‘is the gold standard treatment for posttraumatic stress, especially for combat and military related trauma.’ [2].
So, what do people like Dr. John Krystal propose is the answer? MDMA. Whilst commonly known as the ‘party drug’ ecstasy, MDMA is a psychoactive drug which stimulates the feelings of pleasure, as well as increased empathy and happiness. Basically, when you’re on MDMA, you’re feeling really good. Another 2012 study was conducted, this time in the journal of psychopharmacology. This study shows that people who suffer with PTSD reported a 56% in the severity of their symptoms just after 3 doses of the aforementioned drug, MDMA [3].
treating PTSD, [8]
What action can we take?
So how do we act on this? Phase 3 clinical trials seems to be the answer, as The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have given the go-ahead for them, and Dr. John Krystal is confident that when these trials are complete, there will be some very promising light to be found in the results. Stating “I am very concerned about the risks associated with MDMA administration...However, I am also extremely concerned about the risks associated with ineffectively treated PTSD. In my view, the need for more effective PTSD treatments justified carefully designed clinical trials that include protections for participants against the risks outlined above. We can then determine whether MDMA is a safe and effective treatment for PTSD based on the data that is generated.” [4].
What about other drugs?
Cannabis. There are many ‘components’ to cannabis, known as cannabinoids. The most common two are Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and Cannabidiol (CBD). To put it simply, THC is what gets you high, and CBD is what holds the medicinal properties in marijuana. We’d like to talk about what marijuana can do and how it can help, and why people should be using it more, alongside CBD oils.
There was an assessment of conducted studies from 1975 - 2018 which were undertaken to observe pain relief that CBD offered, such as relief for cancer. In this study they used CBD on Mice which had cancer in their hind paw, researchers said it relieved pain quite considerably next to levels that of morphine on tumour patients [5].
A 2016 study conducted in the ‘US Library of Medicine’ looked at Rats with arthritis. Researchers gave Rats CBD Gel, giving different doses to different Rats. Some received 0.6 mg, some received 3.1, some 6.2 and others 62.3 mg of gel. It was noted that Rats who were on the low dosage side didn’t show any signs of being less pain relieved than those of the high dosage, and vice versa, meaning that there seems to be a cap of how much you can give a Rat before you’re wasting gel. It is also noted that more human trials are needed, to see if it is as effective for us as it is for Rats, however the research does look promising [6]. Something to note is the side effects, while these aren’t definite, they are possible, so be wary of the following: fatigue, weight change, appetite change, and diarrhoea.
The Conclusion.
We think it is very plausible that not only is MDMA effective for treating illnesses such as PTSD, we also think that cannabis is very promising in treating various ailments too.
We implore you the reader, to investigate this further and to really consider the possibilities of a better future.
Bibliography:
[1] Gray, D. Dr Krystal, J. (2018) Can Ecstasy Help with PTSD Symptoms? Healthline
[2] Rauch SA, Eftekhari A, Ruzek JI. Review of exposure t#erapy: A gold standard for PTSD treatment. J Rehabil Res Dev. 2012;49(5):679–88.
[3] Mithoefer MC, Wagner MT, Mithoefer AT, et al. Durability of improvement in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and absence of harmful effects or drug dependency after 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy: a prospective long-term follow-up study. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2013;27(1):28-39.
[4] Gray, D. Dr Krystal, J. (2018) Can Ecstasy Help with PTSD Symptoms? Healthline
[5] Vučković S, Srebro D, Vujović KS, Vučetić Č and Prostran M (2018) Cannabinoids and Pain: New Insights From Old Molecules. Front. Pharmacol. 9:1259. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.01259
[6] Carter Allen, et al. ‘Using CBD Oil for Pain Management: Does It Work?’ Healthline 2020 - (accessed 2021)
[7] Thew, J. (2020), pharmacy pills, available at https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/motor-neuron-medication-may-assist-in-treatment-of-ptsd (accessed 16th March 2021).
[8] Carroll, T (2019), Dr Samy Badawy outside his dermatology office, available at https://www.phillyvoice.com/mdma-ecstasy-molly-psychotherapy-ptsd-patients-philly-fda-approval-psychedelic-drugs/ (accessed 16th March 2021)
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