Editor's note: This article mentions violence, suicidal ideation, and sexual assault.
When Nathan McGee closed his eyes, he felt a wave wash over him. He felt like a curious child.
"It was like pulling back curtains and exploring different avenues or aspects of what was going on inside my head," McGee told Insider.
He'd taken MDMA, a drug that distorts perception and creates feelings of euphoria, as a participant of a clinical trial studying the drug as a therapeutic treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
McGee, now 44 and living in Colorado, applied for the trial after a doctor diagnosed him with PTSD when he was 40.
Throughout his life, McGee felt overwhelmed, sometimes debilitated, by his emotions. He also experienced depression , anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
"I would be there physically, but mentally I was looking at the world as if I didn't really belong," McGee said.
After three MDMA sessions throughout the trial, McGee said he no longer experiences PTSD symptoms like flashbacks, paralyzing emotions, and disassociation.
A mounting body of research suggests psychedelics like MDMA, psilocybin, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT have the ability to rewire the brain and relieve anxiety, depression, and other mental health symptoms.
Insider interviewed five people, including McGee, who were diagnosed with or experiencing symptoms of PTSD and had used psychedelic drugs as treatments for their conditions. Psychedelic treatments for PTSD aren't yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but there's growing interest among patients and healthcare providers in using psychedelics as an alternative or last-resort treatment option for their illnesses.
Many of the people Insider spoke to found that after using the substances, they no longer felt PTSD symptoms that had affected their daily lives for years. Those who said they still had symptoms said the experience had improved their lives and mental health.
For this story, Insider reached out to two nonprofit organizations that work with patients with PTSD: the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is developing MDMA-based treatments for PTSD, and Heroic Hearts, which works to connect veterans to ayahuasca and psilocybin ceremonies in countries like Mexico, where the practices aren't explicitly illegal.
Three of our five interviewees were veterans, a group that experiences PTSD at extremely high levels compared to civilians, according to data by the US Department of Veteran Affairs.
Some interviewees reported microdosing or otherwise partaking in unsupervised psychedelic experiences. Researchers studying these compounds for medical purposes say that self-medicating with powerful mind-inducing compounds is not without risk.
People tend to underestimate the challenging experiences psychedelics bring to the surface, said Marcela Ot'alora, a principal investigator for MDMA-assisted-therapy research at MAPS.
Ot'alora, who was a co-therapist in the first Spanish government-approved MDMA-assisted therapy study in Madrid, said she's worked with patients who came to her after having harmful psychedelic experiences.
"What we hope for, what we do in our research, is keep people safe," Ot'alora said. That, she said, includes understanding their backgrounds, race, and culture, as well as how trauma has impacted their lives.
Even among more structured trials, an increasing number of participants have begun to speak out about the negative experiences they've had related to their psychedelics experiences. Recently aired episodes of "Power Trip," a podcast from New York Magazine and Psymposia, detailed some of these experiences by MAPS clinical-trial participants.
MAPS, a nonprofit that's authorized by the FDA to study psychedelic treatment, is undertaking phase-three clinical trials of the therapy and believes it's close to receiving FDA approval for the treatment.
MAPS's director of communications, Betty Aldworth, pointed Insider to the organization's safety practices on its website and said that there are many inherent challenges to providing therapy treatments to patients with PTSD.
Aldworth added that MAPS has done and is continuing to do the work "to protect participant safety, and that includes training, oversight, participant education, and creating the conditions for culture of safety."
Here are the experiences of people who used psychedelics to treat their PTSD:
Crystal said her psychedelic experiences with psilocybin and MDMA helped her process sexual trauma. Courtesy of Crystal/Insider
Crystal, a 37-year-old living in North Carolina, wanted to heal childhood and sexual trauma from her 16 years in the military as a special-operations sergeant and medic.
"I got to a point where I literally was too depressed to function while I was still on active duty and I was about to deploy," Crystal told Insider. She requested we not use her last name to protect her family's identity. "I knew that I was going to be a liability for my team."
While on leave in 2018, Crystal's doctor diagnosed her with PTSD. Antidepressants had barely any effect, and she went to a rehab facility for alcohol abuse.
Sobriety helped with suicidal ideation and depression, Crystal said, but she wanted an alternative to antidepressants for her PTSD symptoms. When she heard Dr. Gabor Mate mention ayahuasca, a brew made with DMT, on an episode of "The Tim Ferriss Show" about addiction and ADHD, it led Crystal down a rabbit hole of research.
During a Heroic Hearts retreat in Mexico, Crystal took a combination of psilocybin and MDMA.
As she lay among the other retreat participants, all listening to music while wearing eye masks, Crystal said her body began to shake uncontrollably.
But the feeling was pleasant and felt like it was literally warming her heart. She came away from the experience learning to savor those kinds of stirring physical sensations.
"That was so mind-blowing to me, just being in a space where I didn't have to feel guilty or bad or shameful for anything, but just feel connected," Crystal said.
Many of the participants Insider spoke to said that while their experiences with psychedelics had helped them overcome their PTSD or see growth in their mental well-being, it wasn't a one-and-done solution.
Fei Fei Chen, who worked as a paralegal and combat driver in the military between 2001 and 2005, told Insider that when she went on a retreat with Heroic Hearts in the spring of 2021, she and others had to abide by a strict diet that restricted caffeine, sugar, salt, alcohol, nicotine, or any kind of stimulant.
They also prepared for their trip mentally by journaling, talking in groups, and reflecting on what they wanted out of the experience.
"I think without that part, it wouldn't have been complete," she said.
Chen describes her experience during the ayahuasca ceremony as drifting "in and out of consciousness." When she came to, she said she "felt the medicine was moving inside of me."
First it moved up to her throat, and then it traveled down to her stomach and began to swirl around her pelvis.
"I'm telling you, this thing is alive," she said. "It's a consciousness traveling inside of me. And all I had to do was just be open and stay in a space of like appreciation. My mantra was just like, 'Thank you for healing me, thank you for showing me,' for like four hours."
Chen said she doesn't think psychedelics are a cure-all. Before going on the trip, she did talk therapy for around a year and then worked one-on-one with a coach to make sure she felt ready for the experience.
"I think healing should be multidisciplinary," she said."It's like a buffet of things you shouldn't just eat one thing and hope that it will last forever."
Rudy Gonsior said he turned to psychedelics in 2019 to treat his PTSD. Gonsior, left, swimming with his daughter near his home in Maine. Rudy Gonsior
Rudy Gonsior, 36, a special forces operator of 18 years, told Insider that before going on an ayahuasca retreat in 2019, he had never done any illicit drugs.
"I was pretty much straight-edge all the way through, other than some of the classical experiences with alcohol," he said. "An altered state of mind was something that I've never experienced. So it was kind of a turn into a whole different world for me."
But earlier that year, he began to consider psychedelics as a possible treatment for his PTSD, after experiencing the end of his marriage and an emotional breakdown. He began to bury himself in research that had already been done on psychedelics.
"I was desperate," he said. "It was a real Hail Mary move for me. I didn't feel like I had anything else going for me at that point. I had done traditional talk therapy, I had been offered cornucopia of pharmaceuticals from VA, which I turned down because I saw what it had done to good friends of mine."
Gonsior said he was experiencing classic PTSD symptoms that many veterans go through, like waking up from a dream and feeling like he was still in the midst of combat, becoming aggravated at small things that shouldn't matter, and feeling suffocated and anxious in crowded spaces.
One night, he recalled, he found himself standing nude at his front door in the middle of the night, pistol in hand, because he thought someone was trying to break into his home.
"I had this idea in my head that like I was in Iraq and I was trying to protect my teammates and that basically our position was being overran," he said. "I didn't really come to complete consciousness until my wife at the time came to me as I was standing at the door."
Gonsior traveled with Heroic Hearts to experience ayahuasca ceremonies that he said relieved his service-related PTSD.
"Honestly, I feel really great," he said. "It's allowed me to really change a lot of the ways that I process experiences. I guess it's like having a whole new template to experience things."
Gonsior said he still has memories of combat, but he sees them in a different context.
"The things that occurred in the war, I'm OK with them. They are parts of me that I have grown into and I've been able to actually let them go."
Gonsior joked that there are "entire buckets of vomit" that he left at the retreat because they no longer served him.
"I was told I'm a good purger by the shaman," he said. "Apparently I vomit pretty hard core."
Some participants said that one of the more difficult parts of undergoing such intense experiences is coming back home to everyday life, where it becomes all too easy to slip back into familiar routines, which is why support and reintegration is important.
Lori Tipton, 42, was one of the first people to take part in an FDA-cleared clinical trial of MDMA, organized by MAPS.
Tipton had severe and chronic PTSD and depression as a result of a variety of traumas in her life, including her brother's overdose death, a rape by someone she knew, and coming across three bodies after her mother had killed two people and then herself in a murder-suicide.
MDMA administered in three sessions, prefaced by talk therapy and followed by "integration sessions" made it easier for her to talk about her experiences, Tipton said. As she lay in a room with low lightning and soothing music alongside two trained professionals, Tipton says she felt safe as she talked through some of her traumas.
Tipton says her experience with MDMA worked to put her PTSD in remission.
She wrote a blog about her experience and shared it with her closest friends all of whom were supportive. Her therapist was happy for her, too.
"I think in order for it to be as successful as possible, people have to be supported by their community. You can't just take a person that's been significantly traumatized, go through the therapy, and then put them right back into a traumatic lifestyle," she said.
"That's not going to serve them."
Continue reading here:
5 people who used psychedelics to treat PTSD describe their trips - Business Insider
- Review: Tripping on Utopia Complicates the History of Psychedelics - AOL - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Psychedelics Are Going Mainstream. Investing in Them Hasn't. - The Wall Street Journal - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Another Study Shows African Psychedelic Plant Ibogaine Treats Traumatic Brain Injury in Vets With 'Dramatic' Results - Good News Network - January 7th, 2024 [January 7th, 2024]
- Massachusetts Lawmakers Will Be Forced To Consider Psychedelics Legalization Measure That Activists Petitioned ... - Marijuana Moment - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- VA to begin researching psychedelics as treatment option for veterans - Government Executive - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- VA Is Funding New Research On Psychedelics' Benefits For Veterans With PTSD And Depression - Marijuana Moment - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- VA ramps up study of psychedelic to treat PTSD - The American Legion - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Scientists predict DMT trip from cardiac activity - Big Think - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- If psychedelics heal, how do they do it? | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - pnas.org - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Psychedelics for acquired brain injury: a review of molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential | Molecular ... - Nature.com - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- U.S. Rep. Correa supports using psychedelics to treat veterans with PTSD - New Santa Ana - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- DEA Confirms That Psychedelic Mushroom Spores Are Federally Legal Prior To Germination - Marijuana Moment - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Psychedelics for Psych Conditions Made Their Mark in 2023 - Medpage Today - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- 2023: A Good Trip Around the Sun for Psychedelics - The National Law Review - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Understanding the Role of the FDA in Advancing Psychedelic Therapy - Medriva - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- MAPS PBC Closes $100m Series A, Rebrands to Lykos Therapeutics - Psychedelic Alpha - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Closing the innovation gap: Advancing psychedelic therapy and medicines in EU mental health care - Open Access Government - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- The Austin Chronic: SXSW Is High on Psychedelics, as Cannabis Programming Wanes - Austin Chronicle - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- This Forgotten Psychedelic Could Revolutionize Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment - Inverse - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- A 'milestone' for psychedelics: Pentagon directed to study alternative treatments for veterans - Washington Times - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Psychedelic Drugs Are Rushing Towards Approval for Therapy. Here's What's Next - Singularity Hub - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- The top 8 psychedelic books you need to read | GreenState - GreenState - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Lykos Therapeutics Secures $100M in Series A Funding, Rebrands from MAPS PBC - Green Market Report - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- DEA Calls For Even More THC, Psilocybin And DMT To Be Produced For Research In 2024 - Marijuana Moment - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Here's What You Missed in Cannabis, Psychedelics This Week - TipRanks.com - TipRanks - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- You're not tripping: State and local leaders give psychedelics another chance - Route Fifty - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- Are Consciousness-Expanding Psychedelics Like Psilocybin More Effective Than Prozac, Zoloft, Xanax, and Other ... - Nautilus - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- RFK, Ramaswamy And Williamson Push Psychedelics Reform On Presidential Campaign Trail - Marijuana Moment - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- Peyote is the darling of the psychedelics renaissance. Indigenous users say it co-opts a sacred way of life - The Guardian US - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- USask researchers explore untold history of psychedelics - News - University of Saskatchewan - USask News - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- California Governor Says Psychedelics Have 'Profound' Healing Potential, But He's Undecided On Legalization Bill As ... - Marijuana Moment - September 25th, 2023 [September 25th, 2023]
- As psychedelic-assisted therapy grows, so does interest from a new group: chaplains - NPR - September 25th, 2023 [September 25th, 2023]
- This Maine City Moves Unanimously On Decriminalizing Psychedelics: Focus On Public Health - Benzinga - September 25th, 2023 [September 25th, 2023]
- Tech Leaders Are Finding Balance Through Microdosing Psychedelics - The Dales Report - September 25th, 2023 [September 25th, 2023]
- Chronic Pain Can Be Treated by Psychedelics, Survey Suggests - Psychedelic Spotlight - September 25th, 2023 [September 25th, 2023]
- Insights Into the First Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Guidelines With ... - Psychedelic Spotlight - September 25th, 2023 [September 25th, 2023]
- Living with long-term cancer is depressing. Texas doctors say psychedelics could help - The Hill - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Couples Are Doing MDMA and Ketamine Therapy To Save Their Relationships - VICE - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- The Way People Are Using Psychedelics Is Changing Amid Reform ... - Marijuana Moment - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- [WATCH] Turn on, tune in, legalise: Could psychedelics be next in ... - MaltaToday - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Will Psychedelics Be Rescheduled After FDA Approval? - Harris Bricken - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- The Psychedelic Preparedness Scale: A Tool to Optimize Trip ... - Filter - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- How to Test Psychedelics for Adulterants with Testing Kits - Psychedelic Spotlight - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Cannabis Science Conference to debut in Providence, R.I., with ... - GlobeNewswire - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- New Speaker Rivas weighs in on psychedelics, housing and health care worker minimum wage - Yahoo News - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- TDR's Top 5 Psychedelic Developments For The Week Of July 10 - The Dales Report - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Psychedelic Treatment with Psilocybin Relieves Major Depression, Study ... - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Johns Hopkins Launches Center For Psychedelic Research - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depression Effective for Up to a Year ... - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Inside the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist - Hopkins Medicine - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Research Story Tip: Psychedelic Drug Psilocybin Tamps Down Brains Ego ... - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Psychedelics: Risks, benefits, and more - Medical News Today - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- Psychedelic Drug Effects, Side Effects & Dangers - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- Psychedelics Decriminalization Project In Berkeley, Cal Includes ... - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Ancient mummified child was drugged with psychedelics before ritual ... - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]
- The therapeutic potential of psychedelics - Science - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]
- Changing Lives with Psychedelics: How Connecticut researchers are using magic mushrooms to help people overcome depression, OCD - WTNH.com - November 19th, 2022 [November 19th, 2022]
- Penis Envy Mushroom | Legal Psychedelics | Magic Mushroom - November 7th, 2022 [November 7th, 2022]
- Psychedelics. Discussing natural and synthetic friends. Science, News ... - November 5th, 2022 [November 5th, 2022]
- The Harms of Psychedelics Need to Be Put Into Context - WIRED - November 5th, 2022 [November 5th, 2022]
- Packers' Aaron Rodgers says psychedelics led to his back-to-back MVP ... - October 28th, 2022 [October 28th, 2022]
- With Promise of Legalization, Psychedelic Companies Joust Over Future Profits - The New York Times - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects - PBS - October 21st, 2022 [October 21st, 2022]
- Why is the American right suddenly so interested in psychedelic drugs? - The Guardian - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Can Psychedelics Cure? Science Is on the Verge of Finding Out - Newsweek - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Large national survey suggests that the use of psychedelics is not associated with lifetime cancer development - PsyPost - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- This Pharma Company Just Scored Another Psychedelics Patent And Set Its Sights On 70 More - Small Pharma - Benzinga - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- What Made the Mushrooms Magic: Psychedelic Study Explores the Odd Evolution of Mind-Altering Fungi - The Debrief - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Psychedelics And Wellness: The Healing Company Buys PepsiCo-Backed Superfoods Company - (HLCO) - Benzinga - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- What's on the Colorado ballot? Housing, psychedelics, school meals, alcohol, taxes and more | FOX31 Denver - FOX 31 Denver - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- DoseConnect to Sponsor the Tech Stage at Wonderland Miami by Microdose - Benzinga - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- What Is Going on With Bright Minds (DRUG) Stock Today? - InvestorPlace - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Psychedelics May Ease Fear of Death and Dying - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- TDR's Top 5 Psychedelic Developments For The Week Of October 10 - The Dales Report - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- DEA Wants To Boost Production Of Cannabis & Psychedelics For Research In 2023 - Benzinga - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Talk set to explore psychedelics and mental health - Reading Today - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Silo Wellness Closes Acquisition of Dyscovry Science and Its Psilocybin Pharmaceutical Biosynthesis and Research Portfolio - Yahoo Finance - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- How does psilocybin rewire the brain? - Open Access Government - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- HYTN Awarded Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealers License Allowing for Production and Sale of Psilocybin - Yahoo Finance - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- The Healing Company acquires leading superfoods business, Your Super, and lands $150M credit facility to expand community of brands - Yahoo Finance - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]