Written by Randolph Hencken

We had a lovely day getting acquainted with one another nestled in this beautiful chalet in the Austrian Tauern mountain range. This morning each of the researchers took a moment to introduce herself or himself and to discuss her or his reasoning for entering this field of work. The diversity of reasons was as apparent as the diversity in language and culture, which have been brought together to pursue research with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Verena Widmer, one of the psychotherapists from our Swiss study commented, “what I have learned about MDMA-assisted therapy is that we can dissolve borders and help people to become closer to other people. Those who have this therapy begin to perceive that inside we are all basically the same. We can help countries become closer to other countries - and this is important for this world.”

The U.S. therapist Annie Mithoefer, BSN shared, “it is not easy to conduct these studies and it is not easy to do this work, but it is a blessing to be privileged and able to do this work.”

She is right. This work is not easy. These therapists, who have been called to their profession out of the desire to heal people, are now working with a research protocol that requires them to abide by strict scientific rigor. This need to adhere to the scientific process can juxtapose the intuition with which healers often conduct their work.

The polarity of science vs. working with non-ordinary states

Michael Mithoefer, MD discussed the challenge that he feels by walking between the poles of science and unquantifiable numinous experiences. He acknowledged that a part of him believes that psychedelic therapy doesn’t fit into the constraints of western medicine. He also knows that doing rigorous scientific research is essential to establishing the benefits and risks of psychedelic therapy and making it available to patients of the future.

These pioneering psychedelic researchers are building on the lessons of prior psychedelic pioneers. Thirty years ago in the US (and 20 years ago in Switzerland), when MDMA was not a prohibited substance, therapists were free to use MDMA as a tool in therapy. They were free to use their intuition as to who to give MDMA to, how much to give them, how many times to use MDMA therapy etc. Now, the researchers working to make MDMA an FDA/EMEA approved prescription medicine must follow guidelines laid out by these agencies. These guidelines have strict inclusion and exclusion criteria for patients, specific rules about how much MDMA to give (the active dose is 125 mg), double-blind active placebo sessions (patients get a dose with only 25 mg), and a maximum amount of 3 treatments, among other rigid standards.

The road may be narrow and long, but the goal is attainable. Over the next few years, there may only be a few dozen people who are legally given MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in our scientific studies. Then we will move into phase 3 studies where several hundred people will participate in the studies. It will be many more years before this treatment is available to the masses. When that day comes, doctors will have mountains of data and case studies available to review. The therapists of the future won’t be bound to the protocol of today. The therapists of the future will be able to apply the lessons learned during these early studies, while deviating from the protocol and applying their own healing intuition.

Written by Randolph Hencken

MAPS’ MDMA-therapy researchers from around the world have converged at a beautiful mountain chalet in Austria. Relatively isolated from distractions in a small ski villa with clouds looming over the 3000-meter peaks, we have brought our therapist teams from the U.S., Canada, Spain, Israel, Jordan, and Switzerland together. Over the next six days the teams will discuss case studies, protocols, therapy techniques, and other lessons they have learned in their research.

Today is the only day out of the next six that we have no workshops scheduled. We are using this day to get acquainted and we need to let everyone get rested after hours of travel. I personally traveled 25 hours from Santa Cruz, California to get here. It is a thrill to finally connect the faces to the names I’ve been writing about in our monthly email newsletter.  This will surely be a productive week as our teams learn to be better MDMA-therapists. For today I am excited about eating strudel and spaetzel and drinking a dunkel.

Written by Randolph Hencken

I hope that supporters of MAPS like our new logo as much as our staff does. The logo is symbolic of a therapist reaching through a psychedelic experience to help heal a patient. Rick says that the imagery reminds him of the movie Altered States, where the lead character, Dr. Jessup, a Harvard scientist, is lost in the void. Jessup’s girlfriend reaches out for him with love and compassion and helps bring him back -- healed through his inner voyage. The logo is also similar to the original cover of MAPS’ published book The Secret Chief, which is an interview with an underground psychedelic therapist, whose life work was to reach out to help people. Underlying MAPS’ mission to turn MDMA, other psychedelics, and marijuana into prescription medicines, is our desire to help people with these medicines. We believe that the healers of the future should have access to the healing tools of the past, such as marijuana and psilocybin. MDMA and LSD may be modern developments, but they offer similar potentials for healing. As MAPS progresses we will continue to train therapists to escort patients through healing psychedelic experiences. Our new logo is representative of our goals for healing the world one individual at a time.