Summary: TEDx University of Bristol hosts Ben Sessa, Ph.D., for a presentation about the use of MDMA in conjunction with psychotherapy for treating psychological trauma and addiction. “MDMA could be as important for the future of psychiatry as the discovery of antibiotics was for general medicine a hundred years ago,” explains Sessa.
Originally appearing here.
This TEDx talk explores the practice of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, illustrated with the life-story of a fictional typical patient. We owe it to this population of vulnerable, untreated patients with unremitting mental disorders due to psychological trauma, to explore MDMA Therapy as potential new treatment for the future of psychiatric medicine.
Ben Sessa is a consultant psychiatrist in adult addictions, working part-time at Addaction in Weston-Super-Mare and is senior research fellow at Bristol, Cardiff and Imperial College London Universities, where he is currently taking part of his time away from clinical medical practice to study towards a PhD in MDMA Psychotherapy. He is the author of two books exploring psychedelic medicine; The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012) and To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic (2015) and is currently conducting research with Imperial College London and Cardiff universities studying the potential role for MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD and alcohol dependence syndrome. Dr Sessa is outspoken on lobbying for change in the current system by which drugs are classified in the UK, believing a more progressive policy of regulation would reduce the harms of recreational drug use. He is a co-founder and director of the UK’s premier international psychedelic conference, Breaking Convention.
