Ecstasy shows promise in treating PTSD, lame dance parties

Nobody cheer leads their drug of choice more than ravers -- according to them, your ticket to complete and utter bliss is only a dolphin-shaped pill away. Generally, I have trouble following the advice of a 24-year-old adult dressed like an infant who survived a clown explosion, but maybe they really are on to something. The first government-sanctioned experiments in two decades into the potential for psychedelic drugs to treat psychiatric disorders shows that the active ingredient in ecstasy, MDMA, can be quite effective at healing post-traumatic stress disorder.

If more research backs this up, I guess we should start handing out pacifiers and rainbow jumpsuits to soldiers as soon as they step off the plane from Iraq.

The sessions, started in 2004, revealed that in controlled situations, MDMA can lead PTSD-sufferers to break through psychic walls and work through their fears, as well as providing a boost in positivity that helps reduce anxiety and stress in the real world. Amazingly, patients maintain their progression towards healing after the ecstasy treatment sessions and without the influence of the drug.

The Washington Post article frames the argument through the recovery of Donna Kilgore, a rape victim who started the MDMA testing trials after conventional therapy failed to help her PTSD.

For a year or two after her two MDMA sessions, Donna Kilgore says now, she was symptom-free.

"To me, the biggest breakthrough -- it meant the world to me to be able to look at the fear, to look at the shame. I didn't know I was ashamed. It was like I'd been wearing the scarlet letter. It was so heavy. When I got out of that session, I felt a hundred pounds lighter.

"Before, I knew the path was through the battlefield, but I just could not get through it. [But during the MDMA therapy] I knew I could walk through it, and I wasn't afraid. The drug gave me the ability not to fear fear." Otherwise, she says, "I would have not been able to do it."

Naturally, there's still huge skepticism in both psychiatric and governmental circles, but this might be a step toward a viable, much-needed treatment: 8 percent of the population suffers or has suffered from PTSD, and the government estimates that as much as 20 percent of returning soldiers will feel the effects as well.

As for me, I've already ordered a pink wig, a box of ring pops and a yellow, all-in-one garbage man/rave-wear outfit in preparation for my treatment. What's the trauma, you ask? I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk about it....[shudders, cries]

The Peace Drug (Washington Post, subscription required)