Hello, my name is Alicia. I'm new to this community, and I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself. I'm a clinical psychology PhD student in California. My dissertation topic is the MDMA/Ecstasy experiences of adults on the spectrum. In some ways, I can relate to having a "special interest" because AS has been an area of deep and focused study for me for the past three years. The more I learn about it, the more I want to learn even more! I have met a worldwide network of wonderful and interesting Aspies as a result. After I have gotten to know this community a little better, I will post some information about my research. I don't want to be a permanent lurker, but I also do not want to barge right in with recruitment announcements that might not be right for this forum. I am a bit of an outsider, so if it's okay with you, I will mind my manners and get accustomed to this online community's norms and standards for a while. Thank you for making a place for me here. - AD
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Non-Aspie with a few Aspie attributes
- Thread starter Dan4th
- Start date
Hi Alicia, welcome to AC!
Thanks for your consideration in not immediately posting recruitment announcements or anything similar. Non-aspies who are interested in Asperger's/Autism for whatever reason are always welcome, but we generally discourage people from starting accounts just to do research on Asperger's/Autism. Asking people a few questions here and there is ok, but waiting until you become a more established member of this community would probably be a good idea.
Thanks for your consideration in not immediately posting recruitment announcements or anything similar. Non-aspies who are interested in Asperger's/Autism for whatever reason are always welcome, but we generally discourage people from starting accounts just to do research on Asperger's/Autism. Asking people a few questions here and there is ok, but waiting until you become a more established member of this community would probably be a good idea.
Last edited:
Douglas_MacNeill
Well-Known Member
Welcome to Aspies Central, Alicia. And good luck in your research.
What is the practical application of your research? Just curious
What is the practical application of your research? Just curious
Hi epath13, Thanks for asking. At this early stage, the research is exploratory. Data have shown that MDMA commonly promotes prosocial feelings, aspects of empathy, openness, and increased self-insight in NT individuals. That got me wondering how adults on the spectrum might experience its effects. I looked into the literature and discovered that research with children on the severe end of the spectrum was conducted with LSD and psilocybin from 1959 until the early 1970s. Despite some encouraging outcomes, I saw some big ethical problems with using such substances in minors who could not speak about their experiences. From 2006 - 2010, I worked on a clinical trial at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center working with participants who had anxiety reactive to advanced-stage cancer. We provided psilocybin (the compound that makes shrooms "magic") in a therapeutic setting with positive results. (The findings paper was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in Jan., 2011) About five months after I started working on the study, I got a breast cancer diagnosis. When I survived, everyone expected me to write my dissertation on hallucinogen treatment for cancer anxiety. Frankly, I was so tired of cancer by that point that I wanted to investigate an entirely new area. I got to thinking about the early autism studies and wondered about the potential of MDMA for adults who have challenges with interpersonal skills and communication. I found a few annecdotal accounts of Aspie Ecstasy use that inspired me to dive in for my dissertation.
The most important points I want to make about my research are:
- I do not think that it is appropriate to consider working with children in clinical trials. We don't know enough about potential risks in children yet.
- I am not promoting MDMA as a potential "cure" for anything.
- I believe that using Ecstasy sold on the streets is dangerous. (Pure MDMA does not equal Ecstasy.)
- I want to gather data from individuals on the spectrum who are sharing their experiences in their own words. I'll conduct a thematic content analysis to see which common themes emerge.
That's the long answer.
The shorter answer is: I want to take preliminary steps to see if there is a case for clinical trials for MDMA-assisted therapy for individuals on the spectrum who present with co-occurring issues such as anxiety, depression, underemployment, empathy challenges, and difficuly maintaining relationships. Recently published data has shown MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be an affective supplement to treatment for refractory PTSD. MDMA also results in a big spike in oxytocin in the brain that might be worth exploring as a possible mechanism for positive change. Again, I'm not trying to cure anything. I'm curious if MDMA, used safely and responsibly as an adjunct to other support, might be help some adults on the spectrum navigate the world more comfortably (e.g., have more vocational success, lower incarceration rates, improved interpersonal relationships).
I hope I have answered your question to your satisfaction. If not, let's keep the dialog going.
Cheers!
I just have one more question. Generally I don't like an idea of using any kinds of mood altering medications and I might not be very reasonable about it, I guess it's more of an intuitive or emotional response, but I do understand some people's conditions might be too severe to deal with without drugs. Especially I have problems with overprescribing medications for kids but that's not what I'm trying to ask about.
Do you expect people to take MDMA like, let's say, some antianxiety pills, which some people take for very long time if not for the rest of their lives. Or you're thinking about using it as a temporary solution to a severe issue, sort of an additional boost to a therapy of some sort? And one more thing, I'm not familiar with the drug exactly, but I've heard somewhere, and it might not be true, that after prolonged use the effect not as strong. Is it a misconception? I'm not very familiar with chemical reactions it causes within the brain and how the brain responds to that, I've read a little bit but it doesn't tell me anything
Do you expect people to take MDMA like, let's say, some antianxiety pills, which some people take for very long time if not for the rest of their lives. Or you're thinking about using it as a temporary solution to a severe issue, sort of an additional boost to a therapy of some sort? And one more thing, I'm not familiar with the drug exactly, but I've heard somewhere, and it might not be true, that after prolonged use the effect not as strong. Is it a misconception? I'm not very familiar with chemical reactions it causes within the brain and how the brain responds to that, I've read a little bit but it doesn't tell me anything
Those are all good questions. You are correct that MDMA functions differently than medications that need to be taken repeatedly and regularly over a long period of time. In the treatment model that was used for a recent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) study with MDMA, participants had two treatment sessions with the active drug as a "boost" to their regular psychotherapy. The opportunity for a shift in consciousness and new insights is what's important--not the immediate drug effects or "high." You are correct that many people report that the drug looses its effects after awhile. One other important point is that pure MDMA taken in a clinical setting with supportive facilitation is different than taking the drug Ecstasy, which might not actually contain any MDMA. Sadly, there have been several recent deaths in Canada due to contaminated Ecstasy pills. I hope I have answered your questions.
Yes, thanks for information. You explained everything very well. Sometime I wish researchers, scientists or even doctors or whoever deals with medications, whether they prescribe, create or experiment with them explained better how they work and why they're used. Just something that's not related to your research but still, I've heard from quite a few doctors that not many can explain how medication works and why it's prescribed exactly. It's sort of like this - they learned that they have to prescribe pills A for condition X and they sort of know what pills A do. Sometimes it takes a lot of research on your own to make a decision. Yeah, well... Anyway... Good luck with your work
My favorite quote by Albert Einstein is: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." I agree that doctors need better training when it comes to discussing medications and the rationale for prescribing them with their clients. In my experience, they rarely seem to have enough time to discuss all of the non-pharmaceutical options available, either. Thank you for sharing some of your perspectives.
Hi Alicia, it's nice to meet you, and your research sounds interesting. I'm too chicken to mess with anything like MDMA (or Ecstasy), but the last couple of days I've been experimenting with oxytocin (the real thing, not the "love" and "trust" novelty stuff you see hyped all over). Being something of a scaredy cat, I've started with extremely low dosage. It's hard to calculate the exact dosage because I haven't got a clue what the nasal spray device actually delivers volume-wise (I'm using a "recycled" Nasalcrom bottle). But I'm guessing that I'm dosing at about 20 or so IU, two or three times a day. It's too early to say what, if any, effect it's having (actually, I've had mixed results so far, and there's a question whether placebo effect may factor in). I don't know if this is of any interest to you or not.
I'm too chicken to mess with anything like MDMA (or Ecstasy), but the last couple of days I've been experimenting with oxytocin (the real thing, not the "love" and "trust" novelty stuff you see hyped all over). /QUOTE]
Hi AerOHead, I am glad to learn that you are listening to your intuition that Ecstasy is not for you. Do you have access to medical supervision for your oxytocin use? I hope you have a positive outcome with it, even it turns out to be just the placebo effect.
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