The Best Way to Do MDMA-Assisted Therapy
The Best Way to Do MDMA-Assisted Therapy
In 1984, I got my Master’s degree on the therapeutic effects of MDMA — better known as XTC — on PTSD. A month later, the US government made it illegal. Since my research showed me that this drug can often cure PTSD in one session, I continued using it illegally with many of my therapy clients. I found that this medicine worked amazingly well with almost every issue my clients brought to me. It was like doing two years of therapy in one afternoon. Over a 40-year span of time, I have seen MDMA create consistent transformations when used therapeutically with a trusted guide.
Nowadays, I teach a course on how to do MDMA-assisted therapy to coaches and therapists. My students are all interested in learning the best way to work with this amazing drug. While there are a few people that teach how to use this drug therapeutically, my approach is
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unique. Most people who teach how to use this drug therapeutically basically just “hold space” for their clients. They have their patient listen to music with a blindfold on, then sit back and write down anything the client says. I think that this protocol is unfortunate. While it may be helpful for some folks, it fails to make use of the full power and possibility of MDMA medicine.
When I have a client come to me asking about this type of therapy, I tell them about my unique approach. My protocol consists of three parts. First, I do a one-hour zoom call with clients to clarify their intention and ask them what they desire to experience on their journey. Then, we schedule a day to spend 5 hours together so that my client can take the medicine while I act as a therapeutic guide. During these five hours, I use various therapeutic methods to help my client overcome trauma, gain a higher perspective, and open-up to greater peace and love. Finally, a week after their journey, my client and I engage in an hour-long integration session where we discuss how to incorporate the insights gained from their journey.
Some people wonder how I can avoid legal issues when helping people with MDMA. Actually, it’s rather simple. I do all my sessions over zoom. My clients procure the medicine for themselves, so my guidance while they are on MDMA is perfectly legal. After all, I am not responsible for what they consume in the privacy of their own home.
When COVID hit and I began guiding such journeys over Zoom, my clients and I were quite surprised at how well it worked. In fact, it seemed to work even better over Zoom than when I had done such sessions in person! My guess as to why it works so well over Zoom has to do with the issue of psychological safety. In the comfort of one’s own home and while on MDMA, people feel incredibly safe and open. Feeling safe and open is what allows a deeply healing therapeutic process to occur. I find the sessions I do over Zoom are remarkably intimate, sacred, and transformative in their healing.
In the course I teach on how to become an MDMA-assisted therapist, there is a lot of material to cover. Being a good guide for this medicine is actually more nuanced and complex than you might think. There are many things to consider. For example, MDMA guides must know how to do a proper intake interview, how to create a positive set and setting over Zoom, how to use various therapeutic methods with this medicine, as well as much information about contraindications, integration, and ethics.
It is expected that the FDA will soon approve MDMA as a medically prescribed drug for the treatment of PTSD. The FDA is doing this because this medicine has been proven to be amazingly effective in numerous studies. When the FDA approves MDMA as a medically prescribed drug, its popularity will explode. Even now, all the therapists I know who are using MDMA with their clients are booked weeks or months in advance.
I believe that the future of therapy will be having guides and therapists help their clients with the use of MDMA. This medicine is perhaps the greatest breakthrough in psychological health the world has ever seen. But wait, there’s more! MDMA can also be used to create and sustain a person’s spiritual transformation. In fact, I believe that MDMA mimics the state of consciousness that has often been described as awakening or enlightenment. In my book, The Enlightenment Project, I discuss how MDMA can trigger ongoing peace and joy when paired with certain precise methods.
As a teen, I suffered from intense depression and anxiety. It was my initial explorations with MDMA that showed me that a totally different way of being was possible. While “high” on MDMA, I began writing detailed descriptions of what peace, joy, and love felt like in my body, mind, and perceptions. To my astonishment, I began to “tap into” such lofty experiences as I read the precise notes of my trips. Over the years, I learned the “recipe” for entering inner peace and love without having to even take MDMA. Nowadays, when I guide folks on their trips, I help them discover their own unique recipe for living in a state of love. The result is that they, too, can easily find their way back to feelings of love when they are no longer on MDMA. It’s quite miraculous.
Wayne Gretzky, the great hockey player, once said, “I don’t skate to where the puck is; I skate to where it is going.” My belief is that MDMA therapy is where healing is going. Phase three clinical trials at the FDA have already shown that MDMA works amazingly well even with the simple use of a blindfold and music. Yet, when its full potential is realized as an aid to therapy and spiritual transformation, this type of therapy is going to take the world by storm. In this troubled world, having a new and highly effective way to heal people is just what the doctor ordered.
Jonathan Robinson is a former psychotherapist and the author of Ecstasy for Couples, and teaches a course on how to do MDMA therapy. He has led over 600 journeys with individuals and couples.
If you’re interested in learning how to become an MDMA facilitator , go to MDMAtraining.net, use the coupon code OFFSCENE (all capitals), and get $200 off the normal price of Robinson’s MDMA facilitator training.
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