MAPS President Rick Doblin PhD is delighted to share the success of a recent MDMA-assisted psychotherapy session in Israel. Rick was told a remarkable story during a check-in with the therapy team that is conducting our Israeli MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) study.
Several weeks ago, the Israeli therapists successfully treated a patient who had suffered from PTSD for over 40 years, since the Six-Day War in 1967. On his second MDMA session, the gentleman became acutely aware of fears he was still harboring within him since the war. He requested to leave the treatment room for a walk outside on the hospital grounds. The therapists escorted him outside as he had a breakthrough catharsis leading to dramatic healing. Ironically, planes were flying overhead on the way to bomb Gaza.
With so much new trauma being created, it may seem underwhelming to speak of treating only 12 subjects each in our Israeli and proposed Jordanian studies. Yet if successful, these pilot projects will lead to larger-scale studies. Furthermore, as Charles Mackay, author of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (published in 1841), observed, “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”
The MAPS team is honored and humbled to help someone who has suffered for so long. We hope that in the near future MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will be available legally to all who suffer from PTSD. We believe that in the future, our successes in the laboratory will translate into a more peaceful world.
Rick shared, “in the midst of war, we are developing the technologies of peace and healing.”
