Drug seems to boost psychotherapy, trial suggests
Ecstasy can improve the success of therapy in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to U.S. researchers who completed a small trial in 20 patients, Reuters reports. The drug is thought to reduce fear, enabling patients to get more out of therapy; in the trial, patients who’d suffered PTSD for many years, but failed to respond to conventional treatment, were included. Those with psychosis or addiction were excluded. Patients received two eight-hour psychotherapy sessions, a few weeks apart, with 12 of them given a dose of ecstasy, while eight of them got a placebo. Two months later, 10 of the 12 patients who received ecstasy had responded to the treatment, they said, while just two of eight patients on the placebo improved. A larger study in military veterans will now take place, and more research is needed to confirm the findings, they say.