What is PTSD?
Posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD, is a chronic and devastating illness
associated with high rates of disability and suicide.
PTSD patients often avoid expressing their emotions, experience persistent fear and hyper-arousal.
PTSD can be caused by war, sexual assault, childhood abuse, torture, violent crime, accidents,
natural disasters, or other severely stressful events.
These events are frequently re-experienced as dreams, flashbacks, memories, or negative reactions
to situations that remind them of their trauma.
Patterns of avoidance and withdrawal reinforce the painful memories instead of extinguishing them.
PTSD involves changes in the brain.
Studies show that PTSD patients have decreased activity in brain areas associated with
memory and learning, and increased activity in areas associated with fear.
War is a significant source of the PTSD epidemic in the US and around the world.
As increasing numbers of US soldiers return home with PTSD, it is [a] national priority
and ethical obligation to develop more effect treatments.
Nearly one in seven US service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD.
A single diagnosis of PTSD can cost up to 1 and a half million dollars
in taxpayer-funded benefits over a soldier's lifetime.
In 2011, the US Veterans Administration spent about $5.5 billion on PTSD disability payments
to approximately 275,000 veterans.
A cheaper and more effective solution is urgently needed for service members suffering from PTSD.
PTSD sufferers are unable to escape from their traumatic pasts.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can show them a way out.
MDMA is a synthetic compound with the ability to decrease fear and defensiveness
while increasing trust and empathy.
MDMA decreases activity in the brain areas associated with fear.
MDMA promotes the release of hormones associated with trust and bonding,
helping people discuss their painful memories openly and honestly.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is an innovative treatment
that combines psychotherapy with the administration of MDMA.
In a recent study, 83% of people who received MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis after treatment.
On average, these subjects were still free of a PTSD diagnosis 3.8 years later.
These extremely powerful results indicate a promising future for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
Further clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD
are taking place around the world,
and they can only be completed with your help.
Learn more and find out how you can help make this promising therapy into a legal treatment
for those who need it the most at mdmaptsd.org.