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How Psychiatrists Are Preparing to Prescribe MDMA
Some therapists aren’t just running ecstasy studies — they’re also enrolling
Ben Sessa was 18 years old in 1990 and working as a DJ in the early days of the London rave scene. “I was very much exposed to ecstasy,” he says. He doesn’t want to discuss the drugs he may or may not have taken back then. But he does admit to taking ecstasy a few years ago, this time for science, and is happy to talk about his trip.
Sessa, now a psychiatrist based in Bristol, U.K., is leading a clinical trial of MDMA, the technical name for the psychedelic, for treating alcoholism. His is one of several ongoing studies investigating whether the main ingredient in ecstasy might help people cope with serious psychiatric issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and addiction. He is also enrolled in an MDMA study as a participant. That one is for therapists who are leading trials and who hope to offer the drug alongside therapy for patients with PTSD, substance abuse disorder, or other mental health issues. Sessa is one of a hundred therapists in several countries preparing to prescribe MDMA by trying it themselves — and rewriting our understanding of the power of altered states in the process.
