Is Ecstasy a Viable Treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

The pioneer of PE therapy is Edna Foa, PhD, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and director of its renowned Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Foa says she was intrigued when Michael Mithoefer first described his MDMA study to her. Then she watched a video of a session. “I didn’t know what was going on there. I was alarmed,” she says. “Two therapists, a husband and wife, in very close physical proximity for hours to a patient who looks very drugged. The patient just talks about whatever he or she wants to talk about, and gets a lot of support. The therapy doesn’t make sense to me.

“It’s not that I’m so conservative,” Foa continues. “But I am conservative with regard to the well-being of my patients. With MDMA, you’re submitting your patient to a drug that you agree you have to be very careful about, and from what I can tell, you don’t get better results than you would otherwise. I would like to see a much larger, much more well-controlled study that can be replicated with a high probability of success before I get everybody excited about it.”

By Jessica Winter, Oprah Magazine