VermontVet

Yes good question. There is prior sessions about 90 mins to a couple hours with the doctor and therapist. These sessions are for them to explain to me what to expect. Also they go over some tools to use on relaxation. Another thing is they are getting to know me and my background. The day of the session I arrive in the morning. It is an all day thing and I have to stay the night. When I arrive I take the MDMA and lay down on the couch. For the first hour I have eye shades on and headphones listening to music. After the MDMA kicks in I took off my eyeshades and headphones to start talking. For me when I did it, when the MDMA kicked in I felt a wave of relaxation and peace come over me. For the first hour I did not really talk, I just laid there and enjoyed the quietness of my normally hyper vigilant mind. After about an hour of just relaxing and being in the present is when memories started to come up. For me if I tried to push them away I would feel anxious, but if I dealt with it and processed the memory, I would have a wave of pleasure come over my body. I believe that the MDMA was showing me how to deal with my trauma and also that it is more beneficial for me to face trauma head on than to try and ignore it or suppress it. I had a lot of powerful realization that day.
Standard psychotherapy does not have the ability that MDMA has in my mind to truly face trauma. MDMA give the user the ability to completely relax and trust their inner knowledge to guide them to do what is right. Normal therapy and medication only numbs me and I did not find any benefit from this. MDMA is not something you take every day. It is something you take a few times and have profound realizations that heal you. For me (not for everyone) standard therapy did not work because it was ongoing and the medications suppressed issues instead of bringing them up and fixing them.

Sen Sanders glad that you took the time to do this. I am a Vermont Veteran who had severe PTSD and issues with the VA. I am optimistic with the change happening. I got to meet with Steve Robertson about a week ago in hopes of meeting with you to share the MDMA-assisted therapy treatment I got to receive. I was hoping to directly speak with you and share my experiences about this issue since it will help and save many Vets lifes. Unfortunately I was told it was too early on and your schedule was booked. On my end, my main question is what do you think of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD? I would urge you to consider advocating on veterans behalf to get the VA on board. I took a day off from work to meet with Steve Roberston about this for no benefit of my own, only to share my experiences and answer any questions about the treatment since I have first hand experience. This offer will always stand and I would really like to get the chance to discuss the very beneficial effects of this for treating PTSD. So again my main question, what do you think about using MDMA-assisted therapy as a tool for PTSD for veterans. If it worked for me it will work for many more.

I am glad it worked for you. I was just putting my opinion. I have people who say therapy works great for them and the medication work for them. I however did not find any benefit from them. I do not want people to shy away from normal therapy at all that is not my message. I am just putting out my experiences. Everyone is different.

The MDMA I took was thru a legal government trial in South Carolina. I took one dose of it at a doctors office. The setting was more casual then a typical doctors office. I was on a couch with eye shades on and headphones for the first hour. The session lasted all day and for the first hour I just laid on the couch and let the MDMA kick in. After an hour when it took effect, I took off the eye shades and headphones. That's when I started to talk to the Doctor and his Wife who is a nurse(it is a male and female couple which I think worked amazing for therapeutic value). For the remainder of the session I would go back and forth from talking to them to just sitting there with my eyes close and processing different memories. The MDMA gave me the feeling of everything is absolutely alright and a very clear ability to think and process trauma without fear.

I believe it was shamanic drum beats. It was not techno. It was music that was suppose to relax you along with bringing up emotion