A London college is set to trial a new treatment for alcoholism
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Could MDMA be used a possible solution to alcohol dependency?
The drug MDMA is set to be trialled as a potential treatment for sufferers of alcoholism, as reported by NME. The upcoming trial, based at Imperial College London, will involve 20 participants who will be administered hefty doses of 99.9% pure MDMA over the course of a day. Each participant will be expected to have had (or still have) a history of alcohol dependency.
Despite MDMA being a major component of the study, clinical psychiatrist Ben Sessa notes that careful observation of the client-practitioner relationship and impact of pre-existing trauma, will also be measured thoroughly, stating, “We know that MDMA works really well in helping people who have suffered trauma and it helps to build empathy. Many of my patients who are alcoholics have suffered some sort of trauma in their past and this plays a role in the addiction. After 100 years of modern psychiatry, our treatments are really poor. The chances of relapse for these patients are really high – 90 per cent at three years. No one has ever given MDMA to treat alcoholism before.”
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The drug (which is commonly known as Ecstasy) is regularly used in night clubs due to its high octane nature. Users immediately feel a ‘high’ that, according to FRANK, “makes people feel alert, alive, in tune with their surroundings, and with sounds and colours often experienced as more intense.” The website further details the negative short-term side effects, such as anxiety, paranoia and psychosis amongst other affective states.
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