Ec­sta­sy may help boost ther­a­py suc­cess in pa­tients with post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der, say US re­searchers. A small tri­al in 20 pa­tients sug­gests use of the drug is safe and seems to im­prove the ef­fects of psy­chother­a­py.

The US team has now gained ap­proval for a larg­er study in mil­i­tary vet­er­ans, but stress­es more re­search is need­ed to con­firm the find­ing.

A UK ex­pert said it was dif­fi­cult to draw any con­clu­sions from such a small study and urged cau­tion. It is thought the club­bing drug re­duces fear en­abling pa­tients to get more out of their ther­a­py ses­sions.

Writ­ing in the Jour­nal of Psy­chophar­ma­col­o­gy, the team said pa­tients were se­lect­ed on strict cri­te­ria–they had to have had post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der (PTSD) for many years and have failed with con­ven­tion­al treat­ments.

They al­so ex­clud­ed those with a his­to­ry of psy­chosis or ad­dic­tion.

In the tri­al, pa­tients were of­fered two eight-hour psy­chother­a­py ses­sions sched­uled a few weeks apart, with 12 of them giv­en a dose of ec­sta­sy and eight a place­bo.

Two months lat­er, ten of the 12 pa­tients giv­en ec­sta­sy re­spond­ed to the treat­ment, the re­searchers said. In con­trast, just two out of eight pa­tients of­fered a place­bo showed an im­prove­ment.

There were no ad­verse ef­fects from the use of the drug in the study, which was fund­ed by the Mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary As­so­ci­a­tion for Psy­che­del­ic Stud­ies (MAPS).

MAPS is a non-prof­it or­gan­i­sa­tion which aims to de­vel­op psy­che­del­ic drugs and mar­i­jua­na in­to med­i­cines to treat con­di­tions where con­ven­tion­al med­i­cines pro­vide lim­it­ed re­lief.