British researchers believe recreational narcotic MDMA or Ecstasy as it is commonly known will one day be used to treat individuals suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which involves exaggerated and uncontrolled fear responses.

Psychotherapists, in order to treat PTSD need to help sufferers in revisiting traumatic experiences. However, patients when revisiting the trauma, often suffer intolerable feelings, numbing themselves emotionally, resulting in psychotherapy proving ineffective. By using MDMA, they hope to temporarily reduce fear and increase trust without inhibiting painful emotions, so that psychotherapy would prove effective for the patients’ PTSD.

A clinical trial involving 20 patients with chronic PTSD, who received both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, but had failed to obtain relief, was conducted by the researchers. The trial focused on two eight hour sessions scheduled about 3 to 5 weeks apart wherein 12 patients received MDMA and another eight placebos. Each subject was tested with the help of a blinded, independent rater using a PTSD scale at baseline, and four day intervals after each session and two months after the second session. The clinical response was significant, with 10 out of 12 in the treatment group responding to the treatment, as compared to just two of the eight in the placebo group.

The study’s results indicated participants received a combined treatment of MDMA and psychotherapy witnessed significant improvements in their PTSD. Researchers found over 80% of the trial group did not meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD any longer, as compared to just 25% of the placebo group. As well, all three subjects who found themselves unable to work due to PTSD, returned to work following treatment with MDMA.

However, the authors of the study, who have gained approval for a larger study involving military veterans, caution that it has limitations and more research is needed to prove MDMA has the desired effect for all PTSD patients.

The study has been reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.