Fighting Fire with Fire - How Can MDMA Help Treat Alcohol Addiction?

Better known as the active ingredient in ecstasy pills, MDMA is a psychoactive ‘party’ drug that heightens sensations, lifts the mood and induces a sense of euphoria. While it’s generally considered dangerous, a team of scientists from the Imperial College London is now claiming that MDMA could emerge as an avant-garde treatment for alcohol addiction.

A powerful combination

Trials are already underway, with scientists expecting to issue the first doses in a matter of months. The drug will be administered alongside psychotherapy, with the team hoping that the powerful combination will help patients overcome alcohol addiction more effectively than conventional treatments.

“We know MDMA works really well in helping people who have suffered trauma and it helps to build empathy,” explains Ben Sessa, a clinical psychiatrist and senior research fellow at Imperial College London. “Many of my patients who are alcoholics have suffered some sort of trauma in their past and this plays a role in their addiction.”

The art of MDMA

Sessa and his colleagues were quick to stress that while MDMA is a widely used party drug, the study is by no means nonchalant. On the contrary, it’s underpinned by careful, methodical science.

So how will the trials pan out? Recruited via Bristol’s recreational drug and alcohol services, the study will involve 20 heavy drinkers who typically consume the equivalent of five bottles of wine a day. After undergoing a physical detox all will be given two standard therapy sessions, followed by an all-day session and a high dose of MDMA. During their ‘high’ they’ll spend time talking with a therapist, as well as engaging in quiet meditation.  

A chance to “revolutionise modern psychiatry”

For Sessa, the study represents a unique opportunity to revolutionise modern psychiatry treatments and increase chances of rehabilitation.

“After 100 years of modern psychiatry our treatments are really poor,” mused Sessa at London’s recent Breaking Convention conference. “The chances of relapse for these patients are really high – 90% at three years. No one has ever given MDMA to treat alcoholism before.”

According to Sessa, the drug will play an important role in enhancing the relationship between the therapist and the patient, and unlocking the chance to “dig down and get to the heart of the problems that drive long-term mental illness.”

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