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What is MDMA? Meet the Party Drug Making its Way Into Psychiatry
Could MDMA hold the key to reversing PTSD and other mental health issues?
There has been a recent flood of interest into the effectiveness of psilocybin and LSD to treat mental health issues such as depression and end-of-life anxiety. However, pioneering institutions such as MAPS have shown that psychiatry may still benefit from substances that don’t fit into the class of psychedelic substances.
One such substance is 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as MDMA, a synthetically manufactured psychoactive drug.
MDMA has proven popular with recreational users over the past several decades as the street drug Ecstasy. But more research is being released highlighting its potential to strengthen the psychiatrists’ toolbox, particularly in the battle against PTSD.
How Did We Get Here? A Brief History of MDMA
Colloquially known as Ecstasy, Molly, or Mandy, MDMA was first synthesised in 1912 by the pharmaceutical company Merck. However, like many psychoactive substances, the discovery lay dormant for many years.
Decades later, renewed interest in MDMA was born; the inquisitive chemist Alexander Shulgin synthesised MDMA as an academic test in the ’60s, and, spurred on by one of…
