One of the ways that / I like to think about how a psychedelic assists the psychotherapy process is really based on a quote from Stan Grof / which says that "A psychedelic is to the brain / what the telescope is to astronomy / or the microscope is to biology." / It just allows you to go deeper / and see things that perhaps you couldn't / ordinarily see. / And I think that's / exactly why these compounds have so much potential, / and particularly MDMA for PTSD. / The idea of the cognitive behavioral therapies / for PTSD / has always been really correct / and can work quite well for people, / but also, / equally, / many people / find that / these / therapies are just / too emotionally draining / or too distressing / for them; / many times they / give up on the therapy. / There's a lot of room / after a traumatic / exposure / to kind of second-guess yourself. / What happens is that this narrative can be / perpetuated every time you think about the traumatic event, / which can be very often, / and you start to believe that the problem isn't only what happened, / but it's you. //Being in a state / that is induced by / a psychedelic / such as MDMA / may enhance your / empathy for yourself, / your introspection, / your ability to see things differently, / and also make you feel part of the world. And this is / this last thing is really very important because / a lot of trauma survivors / with PTSD feel really alienated, / they feel different, / they try to avoid people. // MDMA is now undergoing the last stage before FDA approval, / and in phase two and phase three studies, / MDMA has shown / remarkable efficacy / for reducing symptoms of PTSD. / About two-thirds of people that are treated with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy report / no longer having PTSD, / and also report / feeling changed / in a very positive direction. / That's a very, / very high rate of / recovery / for any kind of a treatment, / and that's why it's exciting. / MDMA is not a classic psychedelic. / It works very differently than say, / psilocybin / or ayahuasca. / Those experiences / produce a much more dramatic out-of-body experience, / and I think those kinds of psychedelics / can / and should be tried / for PTSD in clinical trials. / But they're different / because while you're having those kind of experiences, / it's hard to do psychotherapy, / it's hard to be coherent in a sentence. //