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Can Ecstasy Help Relieve Social Anxiety Epidemic Among Autistic People?
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of NPR
Posted: November 14th, 2016
https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/10/24/ecstasy-party-dr...
For a long time, Daniel Au Valencia got the message that she was wrong, wrong, wrong. Theres a lot of shame around autism, she says. Last year Valencia heard about an unusual experimental study ... exploring a treatment specifically for social anxiety in autistic adults. Many traditional therapies dont work for autistic people, says Nick Walker, [a] consultant on the new study, because they reinforce stigma around autism. He sees this new research as a uniquely culturally appropriate approach to addressing the epidemic of social anxiety in autistic adults. The treatment is MDMA, known more commonly as Ecstacy or Molly. Early studies ... show it can ease or erase symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In one study, 83 percent of study participants treated with MDMA and psychotherapy were cured of their PTSD. Psychologist Alicia Danforth [is] conducting the social anxiety study at UCLAs Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, along with psychiatrist Charles Grob. Valencia is one of just 12 autistic adults participating in the pilot study. Its impossible to draw a direct line between the treatment and how Valencia is doing right now, but she says shes doing great. Shes got a steady full-time job, her own apartment, and she just got married. She says her biggest takeaway ... is more about emotions than social anxiety. She says shes learned that theres no such thing as good emotions or bad emotions. All emotions deserve to exist, she says.
Note: Learn more about the healing potentials of mind-altering drugs now being explored by the scientific community.
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