Early Use in Psychotherapy

From 1977, a small number of psychiatrists and psychotherapists used MDMA as an aid in psychotherapy, finding it suppressed the fear response and allowed patients to reprocess painful memories without the ego-disruption typical of other psychedelics. It was also applied in couple therapy, enabling communication free from anxiety-driven limitations. Therapists initially kept the substance secret, fearing it would share LSD's fate, but their research covered a few hundred patients with apparent success. The chapter recounts this early therapeutic history, describes five therapists and their work, and details the eventual scheduling of MDMA and the fate of FDA research protocols.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract From 1977, MDMA was used in psychotherapy by a handful of psychiatrists and psychotherapists. They found it to be an ideal aid to psychotherapy as it does not affect ego-functions to the same extent as other psychedelic drugs. Its main effect seemed to be suppression of the fear response, allowing patients the opportunity to observe and reprocess painful memories. Another application was found in couple therapy, as it enables couples to communicate without their usual anxiety-driven limitations. At first, the therapists were eager to keep the substance secret, being afraid it might, as a psychotherapeutic drug, end up having the same fate as LSD. However, their research into its psychotherapeutic utility was broad-based and covered a few hundred patients, apparently with some success. The chapter describes the initial history of the therapeutic use of MDMA, and the people and organizations involved with it. To illustrate its early therapeutic use, five therapists and their work are described in more detail. When the therapists became aware that MDMA might be scheduled, they organized a small conference on its therapeutic use and a psychophysiological study to show its physiological safety. A description of the fate of the research protocols submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after its scheduling completes the picture.