Back from The War – Here’s some Ecstasy.

Rates of PTSD for Iraq war veterans have been estimated as up to 35% in a Stanford University study.   The Army has reached out to alternative therapies from yoga to reiki to holding and petting an animal, and now a South Carolina psychiatrist is trying to bring Ecstasy into the mix.

Michael Mithoefer has been testing MDMA’s effects on veterans with PTSD.  Ecstasy has long been used in therapy, particularly in the 1970’s as a way of getting patients to process things with less fear and inhibition.

“I heard about it and I decided to give it a try,” a former Army Ranger tells Military.com. “It’s an extremely positive thing. I feel so lucky that I got to take part in the project… It’s basically like years of therapy in two or three hours. You can’t understand it until you’ve experienced it.”

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Anisse Gross is a writer, editor, artist and question asker living in San Francisco. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, The Believer, Lucky Peach, Buzzfeed, Brooklyn Quarterly, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She openly welcomes correspondence, friendship, surprises and paid work.

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