Hi again @matrjoschka. Is dificult to study mdma cause many issues, but there is evidence of neuropathological and neuropsychological damage in users. It is hard to study because are many factor and not only the mdma -others drugs, social factors, etc. But are many articles about. These one is a metaanalysis about 39 studies and the executive effects in humans, from 2016, and free in the web. Most of the papers aren't free, you have to pay to read them.
I´ve tried MDMA a few times when was young, it feels great. I'm pretty sure you should be happy for a while, but in long term there is depression and anxiety. I know there are many concerns around the psychiatry and pharmacology, some false and some true. The antidepressants usually are used for a year and a half o two and then withdraw, not for life. As you say are many controversy. I believe in therapeutical marijuana, I'm really interested in your experiment with LSD and other allucinogen, I'm doing a investigation with ketamine in refractory depression. I´m not closed to discusion or prejudice.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B631C672458C919021FFBD5EC7276004/S0033291716000258a.pdf/div-class-title-meta-analysis-of-executive-functioning-in-ecstasy-polydrug-users-div.pdf
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Hi @garvofe,
Thanks for explaining more. It is just my personal experience, and not a scientific study, but careful, sparing use of MDMA in a therapeutic context over three years has eliminated my depression. It's my personal hunch that the majority of depression has nothing to do with any chemical modulation in the brain. Other than that repressed material may be kept repressed by chemical mediation.
What I'm proposing is that any measurable chemical changes in the brain of a depressive person are adaptive responses to trauma. In other words: they are symptomatic, not causal.
I'd speculate someone could damage themselves with MDMA, but I feel they'd have to disregard the MAPS protocol entirely. Just as a knife can do surgery or, alternatively, be used to stab someone. So MDMA is just a tool. Open to abuse.
I'll add that I would use MDMA extremely rarely, and ensure that I am in excellent health, well-hydrated, well-rested and in a safe, supported set and setting. I wonder if the 'damage' MDMA is speculated to cause is independent of environment, or heavily dependent on it?
In other words, did these studies look at people going through MDMA therapy in a supported context, or just people who took MDMA and sat in an empty room? Or people who took it and were freaked out by a doctor taking notes about them? Or people who went dancing? How does context change the effect on the serotonergic axons?
Finally, if a person takes MDMA and heals the trauma of, let's say, a sexual assault that has haunted them for decades, allowing them to be free and live a full and happy life, is it really of any subjective consequence to that person that a scientist might point to their HT-5 receptors and frown?
Maybe we'll just have to accept our differing opinions on this :)
That topic aside, I'm fascinated by your work with ketamine. I know very little about this substance as I was scared off it by stories of kidney and bladder damage –– possibly inaccurate?
My preferred psychotherapeutic tools are LSD and MDMA. Alone, or in combination.
Would love to hear more about your experiences with other psychedelics in a therapeutic context. Is marijuana used with a specific intention, for example. And how much; how regularly? This is a topic I'm getting into.
Thanks!