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A small ongoing clinical trial suggests supplementing psychotherapy with small doses of MDMA could be an effective strategy to prevent relapse of alcohol dependence in patients. Research is another example of how scientists and physicians are discovering or rediscovering the therapeutic uses of recreational and illicit drugs.
MDMA-assisted therapy is actually an old idea that enjoyed some popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Although the exact mechanisms are unclear, it is thought that the euphoric effects of synthetic drugs magnify positive patterns. of thought taught by the therapy, while making people less anxious during the sessions. Of course, these same mood-enhancing attributes have made MDMA a hugely popular recreational drug. This popularity led the US government to ban MDMA in 1985, classifying it as Schedule 1 drug without accepted medical use.
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More recently, however, researchers and organizations such as the Multidisciplinary Psychedelic Studies Association (MAPS) have been slowly but successfully lobbying governments to review the general ban. of MDMA. For example, a Phase III clinical trial is currently underway in the United States – the last stage of an experimental treatment before it can be approved by the Food and Drug Administration – for MDMA-assisted treatment as a treatment post-traumatic stress disorder.
In the UK, the first phase I clinical trial concerning MDMA-assisted therapy as a treatment for alcohol use disorder has been ongoing since 2018, under the direction of researchers from the Imperial College of London. Phase I trials are designed to test the safety and optimal dose of a new treatment in a small group of people, rather than demonstrate its effectiveness. But the first results, reported Monday by the Guardian, seem promising.
The trial includes eight weekly psychotherapy sessions at the study site, two of which mix MDMA. During these weeks, the volunteers take small doses of the drug and then follow an eight-hour counseling session. Subsequently, volunteers spend the night and are monitored for any side effects; they then stay in contact with researchers by phone every day for a week. Some volunteers, acting as a control group, received eight weeks of treatment, but instead received a placebo during these assisted sessions.
According to Ben Sessa, an addiction psychiatrist and senior investigator at Imperial College London, 11 volunteers followed treatment and completed the entire trial, which also required nine months of follow-up. the treatment. Among them, all but one have apparently avoided relapses to date.
"We have a person who has completely relapsed, returning to previous consumption levels, we have five people who are completely dry, and we have four or five who have had one or two drinks without a diagnosis of a substance use disorder. d & # 39; alcohol. Says the Guardian.
Assuming that this rate is maintained over time and with more patients, it would be significantly better than existing treatments. "With the best of what medical science can use, 80% of people drink within three years of alcohol detoxification," Sessa said.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and other forms of psychedelic medicine are just beginning. But this year again, a version of another recreational drug – ketamine – has been approved for the treatment of difficult and non-reactive depression cases. Equally encouraging research has been conducted on psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient of so-called magic mushrooms, as a treatment for depression (the movement for decriminalization in the United States is also gaining momentum) . And assuming that the Phase III trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD goes well, as shown by the preliminary data, MAPS expects it to be approved by the FDA by 2021.
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