Silk Road forums
Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: joywind on June 02, 2013, 06:21 am
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12 MDMA-naïve autistic participants will be enrolled in the study; eight of them will be given various doses of MDMA and later assessed for reduction in social anxiety. The actual protocol involves periods of both structured and unstructured periods of time, with the structured time to be "selected based on elements of therapeutic interventions that are currently in use in this population for the treatment of social anxiety" and the unstructured period to be filled with some combination of self-selected activities, things like making art, listening to pre-selected music, or writing in a journal.
Because of the difficulty of psychedelic researchers obtaining research grant money from the National Institute of Health--with an annual budget of approximately $31 billion, the NIH is the most common source of funding for much medical research—MDMA research is funded through private means, either by foundations or individual donations. The autism and MDMA study, while FDA approved, still needs to raise $256,000 before moving forward.
The investigation of MDMA-assisted therapy for social anxiety in autistic individuals is an important extension of this type of therapy. As with treatment in those with PTSD, it's possible that this therapy could have long-term benefits for patients. This departure from other types of pharmaceutical intervention represents a new way of thinking about mental illness.
Perhaps, sometimes the best way to heal the mind and alter old ways of thinking isn't to consistently introduce drugs that slightly alter brain chemistry; perhaps a very real way of healing lies in administering a drug that radically alters thinking for a short period of time. Now that the stigma surrounding psychedelic research begins to slowly recede, it's possible that this generation of scientists will be able to continue research in this important area.
There's a saying in the addiction industry that, in effect, a broken brain can't fix itself, that patterns of thinking are best altered by outside influence. But an extension of this idea is that the brain, when under the influence of certain psychedelic medication in a controlled environment, can itself be the outside influence.
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/is-ecstasy-the-key-to-alleviating-autism-anxiety#ixzz2V2NNw097
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+1 fun read, i hope they get the funding they need...do they accept BTC donations? lol
and yeah maybe, in time, studies like this will lead to a wider acceptance and maybe eventual legalization of drugs..
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I'm autistic. When should I expect my MDMA?
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I think they should give them LSD. Also waiting for my MDMA :D.