Only recreational. I've taken MDMA many times in my life and -- presumably like most people who have -- can see why it's got therapeutic potential.
Honestly though, I'm not convinced about it in a clinical setting, unless there's a particularly severe issue that needs addressing.
I reckon most people are best off just buying some, getting together with a couple of very good mates on a nice day, rolling out into the country with some very good speakers, and just working it all out by yourselves. Sure-fire cure for what ails ya.
On a sensible note: don't drink alcohol with it, titrate your dose up to ~150mg, if possible get it from a Tor-enabled marketplace so you can be relatively confident in quality.
I disagree about a clinical setting, though I think I mostly agree overall.
Mainly I fear people will read this and mistake it for a defense of MDMA as a drug for going out with your mates. I think this can be helpful for some and very helpful for others but not as helpful as a clinical setting. Where a clinical setting is a therapists office and not a cold clinic room.
I do think people would do just as well or better with a couple good mates, a nice set and setting like you described, and some intentionality (vaguely even) about why they are going on the trip. The problem is many don’t have a couple good mates, or don’t know how to talk things through with themselves or otherwise, and would benefit from guidance. Better if people go into it with an agenda like a therapist would have.
Edit:
The reason this bothers me is because I’ve tried to think through what gave the few old hippies I’ve met burnout. And maybe they were just high but I fear it was psychedelics too often and for people on message boards to assume MDMA discussions are the same as psychedelic discussions when the dosing patterns I’ve heard discussed are very different.
This is I’m content with these synthetic drugs remaining prescription only. Having a system about it supports cultural expectations. The MAPS guys are really doing it right. The only problem is our system that doesn’t get approval for drugs out of patent. e.g. ketamine/s-ketamine
If you are starting from very very low and if you are consuming the crystal then you dont need to read anything more. You can try 5mg in the morning and I promise any newbie will understand it fully before evening.
I do see the logic in its clinical application: It's the combination of two facts:
1) Human recall is imperfect. The act of remembering an event actively modifies the memory for future recall, which can be tinted by other thoughts and experiences someone is having while doing the recollection.
2) It's rather difficult to feel strong negative emotion while on MDMA. While under the effects, the baseline is somewhere between "happy" and "downright euphoric".
Combine those two ideas, and you have a pretty compelling groundwork for how MDMA would help those with traumatic memories, particularly PTSD. Dose them with feel-good drugs, have them recall and talk through their traumatic memories without the usual, extreme negative emotional response, and the new memories are less associated with extreme negative emotion. Rinse, repeat, until someone can remember a traumatic experience without setting off an extreme stress response.
> It's rather difficult to feel strong negative emotion while on MDMA. While under the effects, the baseline is somewhere between "happy" and "downright euphoric".
I am floored by this assertion, as it's completely contrary to my experience. My reaction to MDMA was a nightmare of disorientation, fear, and anxiety. I don't remember the dosage, but the setting was my own home, among friends and acquaintances at my own birthday party.
I don't know if my strongly negative memories of this event constitute "trauma," but they are certainly neither warm nor fuzzy.
Did you have it tested? If you look at Erowid’s test reports, so many things that are labeled “Ecstasy” are not wholly or even partly MDMA. Lots of samples are mostly either MDA, meth, other stimulants, a combination of those or other non related chemicals.
Actual, pure MDMA can only ever make you feel good.
> It's rather difficult to feel strong negative emotion while on MDMA.
This is patently incorrect.
My experience is that MDMA makes one feel emotions much more intensely, with a bias towards positive emotions.
I've personally felt a number of negative emotions on MDMA as well, primarily loneliness when I've taken it alone, or ended up alone after taking it. This makes sense because it makes one strongly desire physical intimacy and physical touch of various kinds (hugs, shoulder rubs, compliments, deep expressions of love, etc)
Even the negative emotions I've experienced on it have however generally occurred at the same time of very positive physical sensations, and a strong sense of connection with myself.
I agree and wouldn't want to have it in an antiseptic clinical environment either, but not everyone has access to good mates and a sound system, and they should be able to benefit as well. So I'm fine with clinical treatments being available.
Honestly though, I'm not convinced about it in a clinical setting, unless there's a particularly severe issue that needs addressing.
I reckon most people are best off just buying some, getting together with a couple of very good mates on a nice day, rolling out into the country with some very good speakers, and just working it all out by yourselves. Sure-fire cure for what ails ya.
On a sensible note: don't drink alcohol with it, titrate your dose up to ~150mg, if possible get it from a Tor-enabled marketplace so you can be relatively confident in quality.