Scientists in the United Kingdom have recently been given ethical approval to conduct the world’s first ever clinical trial that will use MDMA to help treat individuals battling alcohol addiction.
MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly, is an illegal psychoactive drug that causes a surge of euphoria and energy. This results in users displaying more feelings of love, social connection, and empathy. However, overuse of the drug can cause adverse health effects such as nausea, muscle cramping, blurred vision, and chills. So how could this drug be a possible solution to alcohol addiction may be the first question that comes to mind.
The researchers who are from theImperial College London, are first hoping to find a more effective method to treat alcoholism that differs from conventional treatments. So in conjunction with psychotherapy, the purpose of the clinical trial is to get alcoholics to be more open with their therapist so they can help patients address underlying issues that may be the root of their addictions. And because of those not so harmful effects of MDMA on the body, patients are more likely to do this when under the influence of the drug.
“We know that MDMA works really well in helping people who have suffered trauma and it helps to build empathy. Many of my patients who are alcoholics have suffered some sort of trauma in their past and this plays a role in their addiction,” Ben Sessa, a clinical psychiatrist involved in the trial, and senior research fellow at Imperial College London told The Guardian.
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, which has been used in previous clinical studies, have shown that this method of treatment can be very effective in treating trauma, anxiety and even depression.
In a clinical trial that was made public earlier this year, researchers used MDMA-assisted psychotherapy treatment method to treat individuals diagnosed with PTSD. The researchers working on that clinical trial found that 67 percent of participants who had two or three sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy no longer had PTSD symptoms over a year later, and only about 23 percent of the clinical trial control group– those who received psychotherapy and a placebo drug– experienced similar effects.
In another study conducted by NYU, which was published last year in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, researchers used a similar approach to treat advanced cancer patients suffering from depression and anxiety. In this particular study, researchers used a single high dose of psilocybin– an active ingredient in magic mushrooms– and found that 80 percent of patients’ condition improved and lasted for up to eight months.
With this new clinical trial, the researchers are hoping that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy could have the same effect on individuals struggling with alcohol dependency. “It’s using drugs to enhance the relationship between the therapist and the patient, and it allows us to dig down and get to the heart of the problems that drive long-term mental illness,” Sessa said.
For the trial, which is expected to take place within the next two months, twenty participants will be recruited through the recreational drug and alcohol services in Bristol. And each individual will be someone who has relapsed into alcoholism repeatedly after trying other forms of treatment, The Guardian reported. To begin the trial each individual will undergo physical detox, then they will be given two standard therapy sessions without the drug, followed by an all-day session where they will be given a high dose of MDMA in capsule form. During this session, they will spend time talking to a therapist and some time in a state of quiet meditation, according to The Guardian.
Within this trial phase, researchers will also analyze the safety of the treatment and whether this therapy treatment method could pave the way for other similar conditions. “This is not a fringe subject, it’s careful, methodical, extremely rigorous science,” Sessa said.
