Ecstasy (Yes, the Club Drug) as a Treatment for Autism?
Ecstasy (Yes, the Club Drug) as a Treatment for Autism? – A new study in the journal Biological Psychiatry suggests that MDMA—that’s the club drug, ecstasy—may be used to ‘enhance the psychotherapy of people who struggle to feel connected to others.’ For this reason, it’s suggested that the drug might be used with those who have autism, schizophrenia, or antisocial personality disorder. Researchers do note that ‘these effects have been difficult to measure objectively, and there has been limited research in humans.’ And it’s pretty hard not to look at this latest idea about treating autism with several grains of salt. The new study, Is Ecstasy an “Empathogen”?, was undertaken by University of Chicago researchers and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. According to the lead author, Dr. Gillinder Bedi: “We found that MDMA produced friendliness, playfulness, and loving feelings, even when it was administered to people in a laboratory with little social contact. We also found that MDMA reduced volunteers’ capacity to recognize facial expressions of fear in other people, an effect that may be involved in the increased sociability said to be produced by MDMA.” The study found that the use of MDMA can make others ‘seem more attractive and friendly.’ However, MDMA can also make others seem ‘less threatening, which could increase users’ social risk-taking’—and which could, and would, one might think, pose potentially significant problems for those with psychiatric disorders or individuals on the autism spectrum, who may …
Second Circuit Vacates Off-Label Promotion Conviction on First Amendment …
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According to the opinion, the allegations against Caronia centered on his promotion of the drug, Xyrem, which was approved in July 2002 to treat narcolepsy patients who experience cataplexy. The drug's label contained a boxed warning stating that …
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What 'Health Care Costs' Really Means
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Her writing also appears in The New York Times Magazine and The New Republic. Joe Colucci is a program associate in the New America Foundation's … To take just one of any number of examples, elective angioplasty (surgery to reopen narrowed blood …
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Judge oversees courts for the down, but not out
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Tynan was a public defender known as "Father Mike" for trying to guide troubled souls into Alcoholics Anonymous and other programs when he signed on to start an innovative drug treatment program with a $ 600,000 federal grant. That was 18 years ago …
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