MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Analysis

MDMA’s Journey from Molly to Medicine, written by Alfonso Serrano and published by Scientific American, analyzes a MDMA-assisted psychotherapy created by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, MAPS, that is ready for phase III trials. This is the last step before the treatment would be approved by the federal government. Phase III will test the treatment on a larger sample size, one that would be more effective of providing a significant and representative sample. MDMA is a psychoactive substance that is currently identified as a schedule one substance by the federal government. According to the DEA (2017), Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. When in the hands of the public, MDMA is considered a dangerous drug that does significantly more harm than good. In the case of the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, doctors and researches oversee the treatment to ensure that the patients do not suffer from any negative effects.
Of the 107 patients in the trial, 61% no longer qualified for PTSD after three treatment sessions. This data does not stand alone either. In a study conducted by Michael Mithoefer, Mark Wagner, Ann Mithoefer, Lisa Jerome, and Rick Roblin, and published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, MDMA-assisted therapy was found to be a successful treatment as well. 83% of the participants no longer qualified for PSTD after four months of treatment. This study also supports the claims that MDMA has medical