What the History of Medicine has to say about "All MDMA Therapists Should Take MDMA," a Critique.
The ahistorical madness of psychedelic evangelicals
It has been suggested, by MAPS President Rick Doblin, that all psychedelic therapists, as of the recent Psychedelic Science 2023 conference, should be exposed to MDMA if they are going to be a therapist administering MDMA. This article is a counter argument, and much to my surprise, not one I've heard raised before.
I will open this piece with a quote, and return later to the full quote from the same writer:
The best kind of patient for [the purpose of satisfying their therapist] is one who from great suffering and danger of life or sanity responds quickly to a treatment that interests his doctor and thereafter remains completely well; but those who recover only slowly or incompletely are less satisfying.
—Tom Main, The Ailment, 1957
For full disclosure, I am a dual board-certified child and adult psychiatrist.
I have written publicly about my own personal experience with:
bipolar disorder
ADHD
withdrawal from Medicine treating restless leg syndrome
inadvertent caffeine intoxication
obstructive sleep apnea
obesity
the side effects of antipsychotic medications
transcranial magnetic stimulation
Psoriatic Arthritis
Taltz
Methotrexate
Cimzia
Humera
Lithium
Cocentyx
And more. I am not shy about personal disclosure when it comes to my experience of treatment for medical conditions. It would be hard to argue I don't go long on gonzo Healthcare journalism. And I've been reading
and and and and of course and other health and psychedelic luminaries. The following points have not yet been made, to my knowledge.Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS, is an evangelist (from GQ in 2021):
Doblin says the company—which consists of a large team of psychologists and neuroscientists—is now working to help create a society built to capitalize on psychedelics’ reentry.
It is worth noting, with respect for my neuroscience and psychology colleagues, these disciplines are not medical. Not all healing is medicine, but all medicine is legally regulated by the admixture of law and medical practice. Psychedelic Medicine requires Medical licensure.
Rick Doblin thinks the problem with exposing therapists to MDMA is the off-label nature of the prescription, and that is factual. His zeal, like so many psychedelic enthusiasts, is born of personal exposure:
He was 28 years old when he tried MDMA for the first time. It was 1982. “I was just stunned at how profound the experience was,” he said. “It was clear to me how tremendous it would be as an adjunct to