MDMA Passes a Big Test For PTSD Treatment (nytimes.com) 114
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: In an important step toward medical approval, MDMA, the illegal drug popularly known as Ecstasy or Molly, was shown to bring relief to those suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder when paired with talk therapy. Of the 90 people who took part in the new study, which is expected to be published later this month in Nature Medicine, those who received MDMA during therapy experienced a significantly greater reduction in the severity of their symptoms compared with those who received therapy and an inactive placebo. Two months after treatment, 67 percent of participants in the MDMA group no longer qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD, compared with 32 percent in the placebo group. MDMA produced no serious adverse side effects. Some participants temporarily experienced mild symptoms like nausea and loss of appetite.
Before MDMA-assisted therapy can be approved for therapeutic use, the Food and Drug Administration needs a second positive Phase 3 trial, which is currently underway with 100 participants. Approval could come as early as 2023. Mental health experts say that this research -- the first Phase 3 trial conducted on psychedelic-assisted therapy -- could pave the way for further studies on MDMA's potential to help address other difficult-to-treat mental health conditions, including substance abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, eating disorders, depression, end-of-life anxiety and social anxiety in autistic adults. And, mental health researchers say, these studies could also encourage additional research on other banned psychedelics, including psilocybin, LSD and mescaline. "This is a wonderful, fruitful time for discovery, because people are suddenly willing to consider these substances as therapeutics again, which hasn't happened in 50 years," said Jennifer Mitchell, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the new study.
Before MDMA-assisted therapy can be approved for therapeutic use, the Food and Drug Administration needs a second positive Phase 3 trial, which is currently underway with 100 participants. Approval could come as early as 2023. Mental health experts say that this research -- the first Phase 3 trial conducted on psychedelic-assisted therapy -- could pave the way for further studies on MDMA's potential to help address other difficult-to-treat mental health conditions, including substance abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, eating disorders, depression, end-of-life anxiety and social anxiety in autistic adults. And, mental health researchers say, these studies could also encourage additional research on other banned psychedelics, including psilocybin, LSD and mescaline. "This is a wonderful, fruitful time for discovery, because people are suddenly willing to consider these substances as therapeutics again, which hasn't happened in 50 years," said Jennifer Mitchell, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the new study.
I thought it was mushrooms? (Score:2)
And maybe having a nice bottle of single malt in the desk drawer is under rated.
There's always room for a bag of weed, or maybe some LSD for micro dosing to keep you going through the day.
My main source of PTSD is from my employer...
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Re:I thought it was mushrooms? (Score:4, Interesting)
I had to do a password reset to break a run of a few days lurking and reply to this.
I was a really picky eater and still have my pet peeves. For instance, I was told a story as a kid where I was in a food court and I bit into a hamburger then loudly screamed. Everyone turned to my mother as if she had done something terrible but she took a quick look at the burger and it had ketchup.
In general, it was primarily a matter of textures though sometimes mixed flavors would be challenging (the "sweetness" of ketchup). However, one day I was getting high with a friend in high school when he ordered a pizza. It was a supreme and for a moment I was horrified because I hated pretty much all veggies. However, I had the munchies, so I gave it a try and to my surprise I loved it. I still primarily am a big fan of peperoni but the fact that I enjoy things like black olives, onions, and more on a pizza is still very shocking to me today. Living in China though, I realized a lot of my distaste for veggies in western countries is the way they are often cooked. Eggplant can be bomb as shit with Italians doing it the best but Chinese cuisine can make it pretty good too. I also have even started to enjoy some cucumber with a vinaigrette which goes good with spicy foods and drinking. Western cultures I think enjoy the acid mix with drinking such as Cheese and Wine but experiencing it with a green veggie was pretty shocking. Again, at first I was really hesitant but when the vinaigrette is right, it's amazing.
Cheap sauces in general still put me off but I can enjoy mayo on something like a tuna melt or many dishes where the sauces are cooked in, especially when baked in. However, I feel like I wholly have to attribute my openness to try these foods to being high with the munchies. I still make my girlfriend call the burger shops to make sure no sauces and sadly the Chinese concept of bacon is not the greatest but overall I eat a lot more veggies here.
Re:I thought it was mushrooms? (Score:4, Insightful)
Weed and alcohol don't have the lasting reboot effects that psychedelics do.
There's a book with a title like "Changing Your Mind" that goes into more depth.
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Maybe being a fuckwit drug addict causes PTSD and you're just blaming your employer because you lack personal responsibility.
But I'm only guessing.
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Maybe being a fuckwit drug addict causes PTSD and you're just blaming your employer because you lack personal responsibility.
I find there is a great deal of irony that all the generations post boomers were taught not to say No, but they're supposed to say "No" to drugs.
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I still always say "no" when they ask me "Would you mind taking a puff?" Just a habit hard to get rid of.
"But I'm Only Guessing" (Score:2)
"Maybe being a fuckwit drug addict causes PTSD and you're just blaming your employer because you lack personal responsibility. But I'm only guessing.
You're not guessing. That's an assertion.
I'd like to know how you ended up at the idea that drug addiction causes PTSD. I've never even heard that stated before, even by the most uninformed of nimrods. You've really set the bar.
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That wasn't an assertion. It was at most a supposition. Hell, the opening word was 'maybe' which really should be a bit of a clue.
But how did I end up with that idea? I guess I synthesised it from the recognised correlation between PTSD and substance abuse.
Whether one causes the other? I don't know these uninformed nimrods you appear to socialise with so I'll let you introduce them to this.
without further research we cannot say with certainty what the relationship between addiction and C-PTSD is, and whether the former should be understood more as an aggravating factor or a core symptom.
-- https://www.goodtherapy.org/bl... [goodtherapy.org]
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Couching it in weasel words doesn't make it not an assertion. It just makes you insecure in your convictions.
The recognized correlation is the other direction.
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A frequently leads to B does not preclude B sometimes leads to A.
That there is a recognised correlation in the other direction does not prevent causation in this direction.
As for 'couching it in weasel words' the term supposition differs from the term 'assertion' because they're entirely different things. You really should try and learn the difference, it makes a tremendous difference to your ability to engage in intelligent conversation.
Re:I thought it was mushrooms? (Score:5, Interesting)
My main source of PTSD is from my employer...
Well herein lies the problem. You can treat symptoms of PTSD, or in yor example CPTSD (Complex) however what you can't get rid of is the source of the abusive behavior that is causing it.
The only hope of defending from that is understand what the hooks in your own psyche are so that you can remove them and thus have some from of defense from abusive toxic people because the reality is, they're everywhere.
I would rate the ability to manipulate narcissistic people as the No.1 skill for the 21st century, the amount of damage they do to everything is phenomenal. They are breathtaking in their ignorance in the amount of psychological harm they cause. Often they are rewarded in organizations because they are able to manipulate their image and perceptions of them and project all of their failings onto the people around them who bare the brunt of their abuse.
Case in point, the elephant is the true king of the jungle, smart and powerful, yet if it sees the black mamba, a small white snack with a black mouth it knows that what comes out of it is so toxic that the elephant if likely to suffer and die.
Considering that many of the stress syndromes mentioned are also symptomatic of abuse from personality disorders which create endomorphine responses in the brain, it's like treating drug addiction with drugs. It may offer some relief, however it is not a cure. That comes from eliminating toxic people from your life.
Ketamine too, for PTSD. And LSD for depression. (Score:5, Interesting)
Research in in San Diego indicates good response for ketamine with talk therapy for PTSD.
When I had depression in the 1970s I self-medicated with micro-dosed LSD. I can't say it "fixed" anything, mainly because the therapy I needed (CBT) wasn't available to me at the time. But what LSD did do was give me a vacation from depression, a break from my downward spiral, hitting my reset button, and letting me have a week of good days after.
I didn't experience anything like "trips", or have hallucinations, or anything like that. What I did experience was deep relaxation, a dissolving of the barriers I placed around myself to protect me from the world, and a uniting of my self, like I became whole. That's what stayed for the rest of the week.
When I finally did get the therapy I needed, I longed to add LSD to help move things along. But I was working for a defense contractor, so that was not possible. Instead, I went through all the available antidepressants. Twice. Even including Lithium. To no avail. What finally worked was regular and rigorous strength training, which gave me a similar break from my depression that allowed my therapy to finally get traction and let me make real and enduring progress.
I believe progress would have been faster and easier with LSD. But I wouldn't have gotten the ripped abs...
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I thought that the metabolites from LSD were so short lived that they wouldn't show up for any more than a few days after using it...
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Re:Ketamine too, for PTSD. And LSD for depression. (Score:4, Funny)
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Yeah, we were under random testing, and at least one person on our team was tested each day. It wasn't a classified project or anything, but it could have generated much more business, so our relationship with the customer demanded we be aggressively above reproach. Certainly image more than substance, but we'd play almost any game to get the R&D contracts they were offering. Very, very, very fun stuff.
Re:Ketamine too, for PTSD. And LSD for depression. (Score:4, Funny)
the therapy I needed (CBT) wasn't available to me at the time
Look, I accept that I read totally the wrong stories while I was at university but every time I see something like this my brain expands it as Cock & Ball Torture.
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Darnit, didn't think to add that to the list. There were times I was so desperate for change that I would have tried anything... Almost.
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Look, I accept that I read totally the wrong stories while I was at university but every time I see something like this my brain expands it as Cock & Ball Torture.
You would mention that...
Don't Google it. What has been seen cannot be unseen.
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HAH!!!! Good one.
I've had similar success with psilocybin. Not for muscle tone, just depression and anxiety. I don't recall noticing similar benefits from LSD, but let's just say I didn't "micro" dose.
Neither psilocybin nor LSD stay in the system for long, won't be detected in blood or urine past a day. Would take a hair sample to detect (up to 90 days), but that's not reliable nor are either
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The key for me was dosing just to the level where I could feel it, then focus on "falling into" those sensations, trying to amplify them. It would take anywhere from 2-5 micro-doses (depending on the product I was able to get) 10-15 minutes apart to gently ease into that state. Nothing fast or sudden.
The workout route was nearly miraculous for me. After 4 years of informative but ineffective therapy (and all those antidepressants), three weeks in the gym I suddenly was able to apply everything I had lear
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It would take anywhere from 2-5 micro-doses ( depending on the product I was able to get )
Ay, there's the rub.
Owing to the fact that these substances are illegal because of political drug war hysteria (looking at you, goddamn Republicans), you had to deal with the criminal element to obtain your medicine. Last time I checked, drug dealers don't much concern themselves with things like purity, dose consistency, etc. Same is true of all the cannabis products - people swear by various cannabis concoctions as a cure-all, but you still have no idea what you're getting and they are scarcely better
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Well, the real loss was in the development of my social skills. During the decades between puberty and the end of therapy, my attempts at romantic relationships were a series of frustrating and painful train wrecks. When my therapy finally worked I felt reborn, and I naturally expected I would be able to finally seek a life partner, though I had no doubt the path would have its own bumps. It turned out it was excruciating trying to form my first stable relationships in my early 40s. None of my partners
When paired with talk therapy eh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Ecstasy or Molly, was shown to bring relief to those suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder when paired with talk therapy
In other words, therapists insisted that that bit be added in, because otherwise it might become obvious that chemistry works and they're all charlatans.
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Not exactly.
Perception is key to these kinds of therapy, and it seems the drug put people in the appropriate frame of mind to have their behaviors "guided". To put it another way, it puts the brain in a type of "programming" mode, vulnerable to suggestion.
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We don't understand brain chemistry. Not really. We don't fully understand what we can control about our brain, or how chemical interactions matter to our ID.
MDMA works for a certain subset of psych patients.
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I feel like you have never done drugs. The history of shamanism and the emergence of "neo-shamanism", especially as it relates to psychonauts, basically says your bias is ruining your perspective. Don't get me wrong, I have a copy of the DSM-5 and I have seen lots of shit happen through interaction with psychiatry but to discredit the impactfulness of dialog during psychedelic experiences is just blatant bullshit. Maybe you just want two hookers and an eight ball but many who partake in these experiences be
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Never tried it myself, but have seen many reports that the effects of psychedelics are alarmingly unpredictable without an expert on the scene for guidance.
Some other chemicals work by themselves, like antipsychotics.
The experimental design could certainly be questioned for trying two things at the same time, but it may well be that psychedelics on their own are unethical to administer.
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I suspect it is the talk therapy that is actually helping here. The MDMA just opens you up to talk more freely.
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Re:When paired with talk therapy eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: When paired with talk therapy eh? (Score:1)
Re: When paired with talk therapy eh? (Score:2)
Not exactly orders of magnitude of difference ... psychiatric medicine is the equivalent of banging stuff with a hammer for repair, pretty good success rate but not a science.
Re:When paired with talk therapy eh? (Score:5, Interesting)
> In other words, therapists insisted that that bit be added in, because otherwise it might become obvious that chemistry works and they're all charlatans.
No. MDMA deactivates the amygdala, and from there trauma can be dealt with. Normally the amygdala puts up a wall of fear that prevents frontal-lobe control of the trauma emotion so the cycle of experience repeats indefinitely without resolution.
Practiced Stoics and meditators may be able to do it solo but most people aren't that in 2021.
A good therapist will guide the exploration and resolution of trauma. This has been the role of the shaman since before history was recorded. It's literally an essential part of being a human social creature. Humans have called that role by different names: mystics, shamans, priests, elders, pastors - but the need hasn't changed even if the titles have.
One day if we achieve the Ubermensch we can reevaluate, but for now there's hope of moving beyond the societal trauma epidemic to a degree not seen since the Mystery Religions.
The deep tragedy in all this is that therapists were actively saving lives with MDMA in the 70's and 80's - describing it as a wonder drug for PTSD - and then the holy-roller politicians stepped in and illegally banned it - because it validated therapists as being effective without the priest/church complex being required (not that incense in churches haven't been psychedelics over the years).
The number of cases of suicides, depression, rage stemming from depression, that leading to suicide, murder, battery, and mass killings that could have been avoided are unspeakable. Those will all fall rapidly after approval and integration.
Were there justice, those politicians, if they are alive, would be held to account for a crime against humanity.
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Even with recreational use, it is highly recommended not to go alone with psychedelics, at least not the first times.
MDMA is "easier" than LSD but these drugs do weird things to you, and if you are not prepared and without guidance, you are more likely to end up in a bad trip. And a bad trip can cause PTSD-like symptoms, the very thing you are trying to treat.
Alexander Shulgin (Score:5, Insightful)
It's too bad Alexander Shulgin didn't live to see this. Both he and his wife Ann were early advocates for the use of MDMA in therapy for trauma and other issues (relationship problems, for one).
Whenever these kinds of articles pop up here I see a lot of ignorant or asinine comments which just goes to show the effect the drug war has had on the American psyche. Many of these substances have great potential (more so than the medications commonly prescribed such as SSRIs), if used in carefully controlled environments by trained clinicians on willing subjects who are struggling with serious mental health issues. Yes, there is always a risk of misuse, of improperly trained doctors, etc. That exists now, even as compounds like MDMA are restricted. Just look Sackler Pharma garbage with opioid prescriptions.
One advantage of MDMA in particular is that it's not physiologically habit forming like opiods, or Paxil (an SSRI commonly prescribed for depression) for that matter. Paxil has well-known withdrawal effects, and yet it is widely prescribed. My point is, given the restricted circumstances in which this will likely be employed for the foreseeable future, the benefits likely outweigh the risks by a large margin.
Re:Alexander Shulgin (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, there is always a risk of misuse
The fact is, there's a risk of misuse with anything: glue, hemp, tricholoethylene, uppers, water, gunpowder, uranium... That doesn't mean we have to stop selling tools, degreaser, office supplies, clothes or whipped cream, and that the beneficial effects of those substances for bona fide medical uses shouldn't be investigated. But for some reason, some of those substances have been demonized and banned out of existence, to the point that researchers working on them might ruin their career doing so. It's a shame.
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Whenever these kinds of articles pop up here I see a lot of ignorant or asinine comments
if used in carefully controlled environments by trained clinicians on willing subjects who are struggling with serious mental health issues.
Yeah, but that's because the "ignorant" and "asinine" comments weren't about real therapeutic use, but about the extreme of the spectrum about letting anyone take whatever drugs they want. Certainly I've had arguments on here with people who tried to argue that population studies about drugs applied to individual reactions to drugs.
Just look Sackler Pharma garbage with opioid prescriptions.
That's just as much to do with pill-culture - looking to get rid of any problems by taking pills.
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Re:Alexander Shulgin (Score:4, Informative)
Definitely, I suffered from severe PTSD from childhood warfare. I had no idea of the impact of it until later in life.
MDMA was literally life changing for me. I took it mainly for fun at raves in my 20s. It was just a couple times a year at most. But the effects were pretty permanent in just getting past some mental blocks and being able to communicate with people.
When I did finally have a complete mental breakdown in my 30s, my family doctor prescribed zoloft. I can't say enough good about it. I was only on it for 9 months before getting off it. But I NEEDED it at that time.
I'm no expert on anything beyond what I've read for my own purposes to investigate myself, but with PTSD, your serotonin can get so long, your brain can literally shut down. Think of it like a lion getting a hold of a gazelle. The gazelle shutsdown as a reflex as any further agitation will only make the lion attack more. I was stuck in this shutdown low state of operation for a long time. I just let myself be taken advantage of and be abused for lack of a better term. I just accept my life's defeat. Zoloft gave me that boost of seratonin to bring me back to life and I could take action again.
At least for me, it was pretty straightforward to get off zoloft. I just followed the doctors plan. It wasn't addicting. But I definitely needed the zoloft at that crises point in my life. With it, I could function in PTSD therapy and I'm pretty much functional again.
I don't really know how much more effective zoloft vs MDMA would be. I really have no clue. I can say that both had great positive effects on me when I needed it. MDMA allowed me to learn how to connect with people. Zoloft was definitely needed in a crises to bring my brain back.
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There are always risks of misuse, but especially when the drug in question is illegal. People are self-medicating and misusing all kinds of drugs, legal or illegal: amphetamines, barbitarates, adderall, meth, mdma, lsd, cocaine, heroin... you name it and you can have it. The only problem is who gets the money and who controls the distribution. I'd rather doctors to control the distribution and make money on it, than street gangs, dealers, druglords... and you're never sure what you're paying for, is it qual
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Re: Alexander Shulgin (Score:2)
Absolutely it is addictive. Anyone who's done a heavy amount of drug-fueled dancing has met plenty of people who are legit addicted. And it's obvious if you're doing it every weekend or more that you are developing a tolerance, and you spend more time recovering without a bump; hallmarks of addiction.
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Funny I just bought (Score:2)
an OZ of mdma rock for $400cdn :)
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Good to hear (Score:5, Insightful)
Drugs are tools. The more tools we have in our arsenal to fight what makes life potentially crappy, the better.
Just imagine the person destined to invent the lightsaber being held back because of depression, PTSD or some other illness.
What I absolutely abhor is politics or idelogoy standing in the way if weighing something's value:
"You can't test MDMA for medical use because it's been definied as an illicit drug by politics."
"Oh you can't take part in this competition because you're a woman!"
"Why would a n!gger need to read, he ain't goin' to college and invent nothin' anyhow."
It's the not even letting you have a look at it part that makes me angry.
It is, in my opinion, very proper to keep an eye on MDMA for its potential to cause harm. But we do that with ALL drugs, even the legal ones, already. It is only proper to use the substance that already exists and isn't going away anytime soon for some actual good if it offers such uses.
It is all about optimization. Well educated, happy people will prosper and prospering has a ripple effect. If one of us prospers, others prosper around them. And from time to time we produce Nikola Teslas, Rembrandts, Michelangelos, Leonardo Davincis, Marie Curies, Shirley Jacksons etc. and ad infinitum.
Just imagine any of them being held back by idiotic circumstances. And remember that our progress follows an exponential curve. Every invention we don't make can also have a ripple effect through time and stretch that curve farther and farther because other inventions also miss their moment.
I need to stop thinking about this now or I'm going to get depressed thinking about where we could be if this hadn't happened throughout history so much...
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You can make the same arguments for UBI. People who don't own their homes, who only work at crappy jobs because they need to pay rent, are under constant stress, which is incredibly unnatural - that's where so much of the current mental health crisis originates from. Yet most politicians, especially in the "Land of the Free", still refuse to consider it.
A truly happy, free populace is one with choices. If everyone knows they won't lose their home if they don't work for a shitty job, they'll refuse that job,
You couldnt have come up with that 30 years ago ? (Score:1)
Hmm (Score:1)
So people who are high report feeling less troubled about their past? Ok ...
I used to combat modern morality by saying things like "Well, cocaine and bank robbery temporarily feel good too. But that doesn't make them good ideas." I guess I'll have to stick with bank robbery now.
Well duh (Score:3)
Anyone who has used psychedelics, especially MDMA and/or psilocybin knows they can have profound impacts on ones perspective on the world and their own lives.
Only the squares have every had or will continue to have a problem with this and they really need to get over it. The potential for things like the psychedelic's and using ketamine for depression if they continue to be found to work effectively can have profound positive impacts on society and therefore our economy as well.
Puritanical nonsense like the drug war has held us back and will continue to do so.
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I'm generally opposed to drugs (and alcohol) due to their negative effects on the body and the fact they generally aren't used in a controlled way. But if they genuinely can help people when used with the help of qualified medical professionals, I'm all for them. Especially since a lot of the current drugs we have for treating mental health conditions, either have far worse side effects or simply aren't effective for too many.
Does that make me a square or not? FWIW, I also believe that the "war on drugs" is
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Nope, personal choices do not make anyone in my estimation a "square". Plenty of reasons as you mentioned to not want to take any kind of drug, illicit or not. It's when you start making those decisions for others based on some moral superiority complex where things get to be problems.
Those are the type of people who likely could actually use some psychedelics in my opinion.
Drugs? Really? (Score:2, Troll)
While I guess they might sort of offer an illusion of normality, a person can still intellectually realize that their state has been artificially induced, and can cause something resembling depersonalization-derealization disorder. This altered perception of reality can in some cases be far more dangerous than the PTSD, as it is continual throughout the medication's efficacy, and can in some cases distract a person from being able to interact appropriately with the world that surrounds them, rather than w
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My own - with drugs that have been used to treat conditions that were affecting my ability to function. In the end, I learned that drugs which affected my state of mind had a greater negative impact on functioning in society than trying to learn how to cope with whatever I was dealing with, giving myself permission to move past it and carry on with the rest of my life.
Feeling like you are watching a television program of your life inside of your own head, feeling so disconnected from reality that nothin
Re:Drugs? Really? (Score:4, Interesting)
Framing the usage of something like cannabis, MDMA, LSD or psilocybin as reductively as "escaping reality" is a bad stereotype in my opinion and tends to come from people with no experience with them directly.
They are tools like anything else, you can use them responsibly or not and there are benefits for "normal" people as well as people with conditions who need treatment. If we accept there's such a thing as "responsible" usage of alcohol there is also responsible usage of these substances as well. The chances of something akin to depersonalization is pretty small with some minimal forethought and preparation.
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I'm not suggesting that such drugs have no ability to be used responsibly.
I am suggesting that there definitely does exist some demographic of people for which administering *any* kind of mind-altering chemical is extraordinarily disconcerting, leading to severe depersonalization-derealization disorder that lasts for the duration of the chemical's efficacy.
This is fine if such a drug is being used to sedate them and they are not expected to be conscious in the first place. It's a big problem if you ex
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It's a big problem if you expect them to continue to function in society while under such influence.
Good thing no one is suggesting that here. The idea is to take the drug, learn from the experience and after you come down find yourself in a better place than you started. It's not about going though life under the drug's effects the way most antidepressants are prescribed.
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Sounds great in theory, but it doesn't always work in practice
After you come out of your artificial high, the realities of the life that you were living have not actually changed. Nothing is truly any better, all that the drugs did was enable you to forget about it for a while.
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Well this study, and every one I've heard of like it, flies in the face of that showing long lasting benefits
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Useless Without Caring People (Score:2)
Disconnect from yourself (Score:3)
It's similar like how you can see problems a good friend is having way more clearly than your own.
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Most parents are too emotionally invested to consistently maintain objectivity and respond rationally. They eventually figure it out with 15-20 years of practice, after it's too late. It's why most people seem to make better grandparents than parents.
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If we feed the trolls the brown acid will they stop regenerating?
AC has no IQ to test (Score:3)
But keeping the troll's Subject is a form of feeding 'em.
And yes, they will respawn, but they lose all their items.
Re:Like ritalin and adderall (Score:4, Interesting)
These trials are all looking at occasional use under supervision in therapy sessions. Once a month at most, but likely less than that. Nobody is going to be getting a bottle of pills to take home. (Once or twice a year seems to be the sweet spot for psilocybin and other psychedelics for therapeutic purposes.)
Anyway, the Adderall prescriptions are hardly limited to celebrities, and not really comparable. I've always thought it was overprescribed any time little Johnny's grades start dropping. Diagnose him with "ADHD", start giving him speed every morning and now he's doing more school work. Like magic! Years down the line when they can't function without it, the excuse is always "But my brain chemistry is different. They told me I have a disease. This just makes my chemistry normal. I don't get high." ... Yeah, it's abnormal now, because you're an amphetamine addict. Not getting high is called tolerance, which any drug addict is familiar with.
I've taken MDMA and MDA before, somewhere less than a dozen times in more than a dozen years. I've also taken Adderall on occasion (never prescribed, or daily.)... While they have superficially similar stimulant effects, MDMA has much more of a psychedelic/psychological component. Too complex to get into here, but there's a bunch of literature out there, which is now slowly being transferred into the sphere of peer-reviewed science. Long story short it helped me to get over some issues I had with physical intimacy (including but not limited to sexual intimacy.) I had never been able to orgasm from a blowjob before, despite receiving the best. One night on molly taught me how to let go of my hangups. That was 6 years ago, and I'm still reaping the benefits today.
Re:Like ritalin and adderall (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:2)
Class B drugs can be prescribed legally if your doctor isn't a pussy.
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I remember this getting talked about in the early '80s, and there was substantial evidence of exactly what this study confirmed. It took 40 years to acknowledge what we knew then strictly because of some stupid dogma. When I think of how many combat troops we could have helped, and how many we lost post combat to PTSD, it makes me nauseous.
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:3)
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I had never been able to orgasm from a blowjob before, despite receiving the best. One night on molly taught me how to let go of my hangups. That was 6 years ago, and I'm still reaping the benefits today.
Oh so that's the cure ? Same problem. Though i dont understand what hang-ups you are referring to. For me its just that the pressure, friction, depth seem too little as compared to umm... PIV.
How much molly ? and what to do after taking it ? I tried molly twice (not for this purpose, just generally for getting high) but probably got some dud, coz absolutely nothing happened. Beyond some tiny visual disturbances, feeling of confusion & recurrent deja vu sorta feeling. And we slept like a log the entire n
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:4, Interesting)
I know lots of people who get drunk the first time they take molly and have a subpar experience. If you were drinking beer that night, I would suggest trying again, but just drink water and juice.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh yes, i did have a tiny bit of vodka thinking this shit isn't working. Will try. Thanks. Was beginning to think I am immune or something, which is quite unexpected as i am extra sensitive to weed type of stuff
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:3)
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Aren't ritalin and adderall primarily over-prescribed and misused to control boys in the classroom?
It's not coincidence that those drugs came to prominence at the same time girls started significantly outperforming boys in education.
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:2)
So, boys need amphetamines to keep up?
Re: (Score:2)
No. I didn't say that. Nobody said that. Nobody hinted at that.
Perhaps you might like to try reading what I actually wrote.
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But what you wrote was unsourced conspiracy bullshit. Why would anyone take you seriously?
And yes, you certainly implied exactly that "boys need amphetamines to keep up." You said girls started out performing boys, so boys were prescribed amphetamines. So the implication, depending on timing, is either that girls outperformed boys so boys got prescribed drugs to keep up, or that boys were prescribed these drugs and it made their academic performance worse. What other interpretation is there?
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You said girls started out performing boys, so boys were prescribed amphetamines.
No. No, I did not. I pointed out that both started at the same time.
In fact the inference from my comment is precisely the fucking opposite of the idiotic conclusion you and the other cunt both managed to somehow contrive.
So the implication, depending on timing, is either that girls outperformed boys so boys got prescribed drugs to keep up, or that boys were prescribed these drugs and it made their academic performance worse
Given one of those implications would not explain relative gender performance prior to this change it should be pretty fucking obvious which I mean.
But what you wrote was unsourced conspiracy bullshit. Why would anyone take you seriously?
Question 1 : Are girls outperforming boys in education?
Question 2 : Are boys being more heavily prescribed behaviour modification drugs than t
Re: (Score:2)
Question 1: no.
Question 2: no.
Question 3: you beg the question here, so there's no answer to your false premise.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Have data that supports your position? Present it. And provide actual context, what countries are you talking about, and what range of dates?
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Question 1: no.
Ok, I'm confused. Why did you even enter this conversation if you're so badly informed and ignorant?
"It is well known that far fewer men than women enroll in tertiary education in the United States and other Western nations" -- https://www.pnas.org/content/1... [pnas.org]
"in recent years women have earned more professional degrees and doctorates than men" -- https://www.wiareport.com/2019... [wiareport.com]
"In 2019, about 7.15 million male students were enrolled in degree-granting postsecondary institutions as undergraduate students.
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:2)
If your inference is based on the two being "around the same time", then why is one inference valid, while the reverse inference is "idiotic"? Doesn't the data fit either just as well, since causation never came up? And isn't it more likely that girls started outperforming boys when women's liberation started to become more prevalent, which subsequently would have necessitated boys getting 'phetamin's to keep up? Within context, why isn't that the obvious explanation? Why isn't your explanation the "idiotic
Re: (Score:2)
So your position is that
- boys outperform girls
- women's lib become prevalent
- for no stated reason linked to this girls start to outperform boys
- boys get amphetamines to boost their performance
- boys' previous performance boosted by amphetamines is still worse than women's lib improved girls'
Within context, why isn't that the obvious explanation?
Because it makes no fucking sense at all. Try supporting it with even the tiniest amount of evidence. Go for it. Be my guest.
I will grant that you are at least not as fucking deluded as the other guy, who actually pre
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:2)
I will match you one for one on evidence. You start.
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For what do you seek evidence?
That girls outperform boys? I provided that.
That boys are being drugged in the classroom? https://www.verywellmind.com/a... [verywellmind.com] shows the overwhelming acceleration of medication development. Look at before and after 1999.
However https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov] shows four times as many boys as girls are being medicated in school.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/d... [ed.gov] gives some hints on gender discrepancy in attending university but it's too crude to understand gaps between undergrads,
Re: Like ritalin and adderall (Score:2)
Fun fact from the world of science. Brain maturation in girls runs about 2 years ahead of boys throughout the teen years and early 20s.
Re: Yeah, let's not actually fix any problems... (Score:1)
WTF, I swear I wrote "too sane" and "confused"!
Re: (Score:2)