FW: MAPS: Interview with Manifesting Minds editor Brad Burge of MAPS -- PsypressUK

 

 

 

 

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http://psypressuk.com/2014/02/07/interview-with-manifesting-minds-editor-brad-burge-of-maps/

Interview with Manifesting Minds editor Brad Burge of MAPS
Posted by PsypressUK ⋅ February 7, 2014        ⋅ Leave a Comment
Filed Under  drugs, interview, mdma, psychedelics, PTSD, therapy        


The following interview is with Brad Burge, Director of Communications
and Marketing at the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic
Studies (MAPS), and co-editor of the Manifesting Minds anthology (2014).

Manifesting Minds is a collection of articles previously published in
the MAPS Bulletin, which since its launch has been an important source
of information on psychedelic research. In many respects, this
publication feels like a testament to the bulletin's longevity and
willingness to embrace different aspects of psychedelics.

[PsypressUK]
Can you tell us a little about the special editions, from which these
articles have been taken, and how they first came about?

[Brad]
Though our primary focus is scientific research, educating the public is
also an essential part of our mission and the MAPS Bulletin has been a
way to do that.

In the early days of psychedelic research, it seemed to be important and
necessary to invest in creating a publication that people could be proud
to leave on their coffee table and share with others, a credible and
professional source that would encourage people to have open, honest
conversations about psychedelics.

Early Bulletins focused on providing updates on our various research and
education projects, until we released the first special edition in
autumn of 2000, themed: "Creativity." It was a success, we published
additional special editions including "Sex, Spirit, and Psychedelics";
"Rites of Passage: Kids and Psychedelics"; "Technology and
Psychedelics"; "Psychedelics and Ecology"; "Psychedelics, Death, and
Dying"; "Psychedelics and the Mind-Body Connection"; and "Psychedelics
and the Popular Arts". Our most recent special edition was on
"Psychedelics, Psychiatry, and Psychology," and the next one in Spring
2014 will be "Psychedelics and Education."

[PsypressUK]
The publication of Manifesting Minds comes at a time when psychedelic
research in general appears to be on an up-swing, yet many of the areas
on which it touches are still understood to be fringe ideas. In the
future, what fields and disciplines other than the psychiatric do you
think headway will be made with? And why?

[Brad]
Psychedelics have been (and continue to be) used for spiritual and
religious purposes in various locations around the world, notably the
União do Vegetal (Brazil) which uses ayahuasca, the Native American
Church (USA) which uses peyote, and the Bwiti people (South Africa) who
use iboga or ibogaine, just to name a few. These compounds are integral
parts of ceremonies and rites of passage and when used in these
culturally supported contexts, users often have strong spiritual
experiences, or experiences that help them heal from mental or physical
illness, or experiences that enhance their creativity or their
connection to the natural world. We hope to open up legitimate fields of
scientific inquiry into all of these areas.

As research into the medical applications of psychedelics moves forward,
these long-established traditional uses are also seeing an upswing in
interest as Westerners seek spiritual purpose, greater understandings of
altered states of consciousness, and new modes of healing.

There is also increasing interest in using psychedelics to enhance
creative thinking, not just among artists, but also among scientific
communities, the technology sector, and computer programmers as a way to
approach problem solving. The most notable testament to this application
is Steve Jobs, who at one point linked his early LSD experiences to
advancements in the development of Apple. After his death, the overlap
between LSD and computer programming gained widespread media attention.

[PsypressUK]
One of the highly focused areas of psychedelic research at the moment is
with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Can you tell us what work
MAPS has and is currently helping to undertake in this area?

[Brad]
MAPS is conducting Phase 2 clinical trials with the specific intent to
develop MDMA into a prescription drug, to be used in conjunction with
therapy, in a clinic, as a treatment for PTSD. We have study sites
around the world including Vancouver, Charleston, Boulder, and Tel-Aviv.
Phase 2 research is an opportunity to test and adjust our protocol so
that the results can be duplicated in many more subjects during Phase 3,
which we hope to begin two years from now. So far, our results are
promising, showing that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy may be a more
effective PTSD treatment than leading pharmaceuticals, even among
patients who are treatment-resistant. Our long-term follow-up study
showed that results were sustained for over three years. There is a
strong possibility that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will be legally
available by around 2022.

[PsypressUK]
The treatment of US soldiers with PTSD has been a bone of contention in
some quarters, so far as it seemingly picks a side, and ignores the
effects on innocent civilians. Why do you think the focus has not been
on the total negative mental health effects of war situations? And what
can be done to improve this situation?

[Brad]
Our current largest study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD is
focused on U.S. veterans as well as police officers, fire fighters, and
police officers with service-related PTSD. Our first complete pilot
study, with an 83% success rate, was primarily in female survivors of
sexual assault and abuse. It's a huge exaggeration to say that we've
only—or even primarily—been focused on veterans when our research is
helping people with PTSD from many causes.

One of the facts of war is that the wounds of the victors are easier to
treat than the wounds of the defeated. U.S. veterans returning from
combat are the victors in the sense that they get to return home to a
safe place. Their minds and bodies may be in pieces, but at home they
have a chance to rest and to explore different treatments. We just can't
access some of the global populations most in need of psychedelic
treatments, as evidenced by the Jordanian FDA's refusal to let us start
research in that country.

We believe that military personnel and civilians are equally deserving
of the best possible care we can give them. Helping a soldier
reintegrate into a normal life, stop having nightmares and flashbacks,
and giving them a chance to lead a healthy and happy life are not the
same as supporting the wars in which they fought.

The best we can do now to expand access to these treatments for
everyone—not just for military personnel but for those suffering from
PTSD as a result of war, terrorism, sexual assault, violent crime,
natural disasters, childhood trauma, or any other cause—is to increase
the amount of mainstream support we receive from the media,
policymakers, and the public at large. If government agencies can
embrace MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD research, we'll have opened
a door for psychedelic treatments for everyone who can benefit from them.

[PsypressUK]
Thank you for answering our questions, Brad. Best of luck with the
anthology!
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