Those studies show improvement with MDMA, but they have small sample sizes and their control groups (which get similarly unusually intense/long therapy sessions without MDMA) show some improvement too. The “apparently miraculous” effect size is at least a good part hype.
Also, lots of people take MDMA in non-therapeutic contexts and lie about it, so it isn’t like you’re going to find a control group of people you can be definitely sure haven’t taken MDMA since they got PTSD—especially if they’ve heard of said hype.
I’m not saying MDMA doesn’t help with PTSD (I even grant that it could help in the treatment of Antisocial Personality, Postpartum Depression and especially Couples Therapy), I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of the measured effect was due to the length/intensity of the therapeutic sessions these studies use, rather than due to the drug.
I wonder whether the classification of PTSD takes account of the apparently miraculous effects of MDMA shown in some studies.
Those studies show improvement with MDMA, but they have small sample sizes and their control groups (which get similarly unusually intense/long therapy sessions without MDMA) show some improvement too. The “apparently miraculous” effect size is at least a good part hype.
Also, lots of people take MDMA in non-therapeutic contexts and lie about it, so it isn’t like you’re going to find a control group of people you can be definitely sure haven’t taken MDMA since they got PTSD—especially if they’ve heard of said hype.
I’m not saying MDMA doesn’t help with PTSD (I even grant that it could help in the treatment of Antisocial Personality, Postpartum Depression and especially Couples Therapy), I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of the measured effect was due to the length/intensity of the therapeutic sessions these studies use, rather than due to the drug.