But I definitely have issues with the sort of cosmetic psychopharmacology, the number of people who are taking antidepressants an SSRIs in particular, when there are other ways to treat the problems and other more holistic ways, more healthy ways, more integrative ways of tackling some of the problems, of the malaise, and the anxiety, and the stress than just medicating it over with the SSRIs.
Erik: That's great. And some people might still be concerned about some of the risks there, where studies that came out that indicated that there are brain damage resulting from MDMA usage. Is that accurate?
Dr. Holland: Well, I think it is safe to say that if you are looking at the medical model, which is that you're taking this drug very few times, and you know that it's pure MDMA, and you're not over-hydrating, and you're not overheating, that that would be the safer way to do it.
And I think it's fair to say that in the recreational model, when you don't know what you're getting, and you're taking a lot of it, and you're taking it frequently, that you are certainly engaging in much more risky behavior. And whether that translates into brain damage or psychiatric problems, it really depends on the person and what their chemistry was to start with, and what they've been taking, and how often they've been taking it, and whether they're going to get themselves into trouble or not.
I definitely have a few people come to my private practice, and not very many considering who I am and the kind of work that I do, but a couple of people in the last 20 years have come to me who took an awful lot of Ecstasy, and did seem to have problems with anxiety or with depression. And they did require treatment for a short time, but they didn't require treatment forever.
And the thing I think about is that Ecstasy is the most commonly used illicit drug after cannabis. And if it did cause significant brain damage, and it's been used since the mid-80's, by now we should be seeing a lot of Ecstasy casualties walking around. We're not necessarily seeing a lot of those people. So, I do think that there are instances of very heavy use that are causing problems. I think it's safe to say that you want to be judicious in how often you use it, and you want to assure purity whenever possible, and you want to minimize over-hydration and overheating.
Erik: Great. And so you had mentioned earlier also that some people use low dose MDMA as a daily medication for Attention Deficit?
Erik: That's great. And some people might still be concerned about some of the risks there, where studies that came out that indicated that there are brain damage resulting from MDMA usage. Is that accurate?
Dr. Holland: Well, I think it is safe to say that if you are looking at the medical model, which is that you're taking this drug very few times, and you know that it's pure MDMA, and you're not over-hydrating, and you're not overheating, that that would be the safer way to do it.
And I think it's fair to say that in the recreational model, when you don't know what you're getting, and you're taking a lot of it, and you're taking it frequently, that you are certainly engaging in much more risky behavior. And whether that translates into brain damage or psychiatric problems, it really depends on the person and what their chemistry was to start with, and what they've been taking, and how often they've been taking it, and whether they're going to get themselves into trouble or not.
I definitely have a few people come to my private practice, and not very many considering who I am and the kind of work that I do, but a couple of people in the last 20 years have come to me who took an awful lot of Ecstasy, and did seem to have problems with anxiety or with depression. And they did require treatment for a short time, but they didn't require treatment forever.
And the thing I think about is that Ecstasy is the most commonly used illicit drug after cannabis. And if it did cause significant brain damage, and it's been used since the mid-80's, by now we should be seeing a lot of Ecstasy casualties walking around. We're not necessarily seeing a lot of those people. So, I do think that there are instances of very heavy use that are causing problems. I think it's safe to say that you want to be judicious in how often you use it, and you want to assure purity whenever possible, and you want to minimize over-hydration and overheating.
Erik: Great. And so you had mentioned earlier also that some people use low dose MDMA as a daily medication for Attention Deficit?
