MDMA may have protected Nova attack survivors from trauma, study suggests

On the morning of October 7, 2023, at the Nova music festival near the Gaza border, many attendees consumed illicit recreational drugs, including ecstasy (MDMA) and LSD. Shortly after sunrise, Hamas militants attacked the venue, while hundreds of people were in a state of euphoria.

Currently, neuroscientists working with survivors of the music festival suggest that early indications show that ecstasy (also known as "ecstasy" or "molly") may have provided some psychological protection against trauma. These preliminary findings are undergoing peer review and are expected to be published in the coming months, indicating that the drug is associated with a more positive mental state, both during the event and in the months that followed.

The study, conducted by scientists at the University of Haifa in Israel, may promote scientific interest in how ecstasy can be used to treat psychological trauma. It is understood that this is the first time scientists have been able to study a large-scale traumatic event in which a large number of people were affected by psychoactive drugs. Hamas militants killed 360 people and kidnapped dozens at the music festival site, which was attended by 3,500 people.

Researchers tracked the psychological responses of more than 650 music festival survivors. Two-thirds of them were under the influence of recreational drugs, including ecstasy, LSD, cannabis, or psilocybin (a compound found in psychedelic mushrooms) before the attack. The study found that ecstasy, especially ecstasy that was not mixed with other substances, had the strongest protective effect. Professor Salomon stated that people who took ecstasy during the attack appeared to cope better psychologically in the subsequent five months, a period of significant psychological processing. They slept better, experienced less mental distress, and performed better than those who did not take any substances.

The research team believes that the prosocial hormones triggered by the drug, such as oxytocin (which helps promote interpersonal relationships), help reduce fear and enhance friendships among those who fled the attack. More importantly, they stated that this seemed to make survivors more willing to accept love and support from family and friends. Researchers found that many survivors, such as Michal Ohana, firmly believed that the drugs did play a role, and stated that this belief itself may have helped them recover from the event. She believes that without the drug, she might have frozen or fallen to the ground and been killed or captured by the gunmen.

Although the study is limited to survivors of the attack, making it difficult to determine whether a specific drug helped or hindered victims' chances of escape, other clinicians have been experimentally using ecstasy-assisted psychotherapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in various countries. However, only Australia has approved it as a treatment. Other countries, including the United States, have rejected the therapy, citing concerns about study design, the potential for the treatment to not provide long-term benefits, and potential heart problems, injury, and risk of abuse. In the UK, ecstasy is classified as a Class A drug and is associated with liver, kidney, and heart problems. In Israel, ecstasy is also illegal, and psychologists can only use it to treat clients on the basis of experimental research.

The preliminary results of the Nova study have been closely watched by Israeli clinicians who are experimenting with using ecstasy to treat PTSD following the October 7 attacks. Dr. Anna Harwood-Gross, a clinical psychologist and research director at the Metiv Center for Psychotrauma in Israel, called these preliminary findings "very important" for therapists like her. She is currently experimenting with using ecstasy to treat PTSD in the Israeli army and has been concerned about whether it is ethical to induce clients into a vulnerable psychological state during wartime. Dr. Harwood-Gross stated that early signs of therapeutic ecstasy use are encouraging, even in veterans with chronic PTSD. She also stated that it subverts old assumptions about the "rules" of treatment, especially the length of treatment, which must be adjusted when working with clients using ecstasy. Longer forms of treatment have shown encouraging results even in the placebo group, with a success rate of 40%.

Danny Brom, the founding director of the METIV Center for Psychotrauma at Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem and a veteran in the field, stated that Israeli society itself has also changed its attitude towards trauma and treatment after the October 7 attacks. He stated that the attacks exposed a collective trauma associated with the Holocaust and generations of persecution. Psychologist Vered Atzmon Meshulam stated: "Our history is full of massacres. As a psychologist in Israel, we now face an opportunity to deal with many previously untreated traumas, such as all our narratives of the past 2000 years."

Collective trauma, combat trauma, psychoactive drugs, sexual assault, hostages, survivors, body collectors, the wounded, and the bereaved—Israel's trauma experts are facing complex issues from clients flooding into treatment. Gaza faces similar mental health challenges, where, after 15 months of devastating war, a large number of people have been killed, injured, or displaced, and resources to help the deeply traumatized population are scarce. Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities triggered the Gaza war in October 2023, which was paused in January with a six-week ceasefire during which Hamas-held Israeli hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But little sense of the peace and security needed to begin healing has arrived for either side. The ceasefire agreement expired last weekend, and 59 Israeli hostages remain held by Hamas. Many Gazans are packing their bags, waiting for the war to resume.

Meanwhile, Nova survivor Michal Ohana said she feels that as time goes on, some people expect her to have moved on from the attack, but she is still affected. She said: "I wake up with this, I go to sleep with this, and people don't understand. We experience these things every day. I felt that the country supported us in the first few months, but now a year later, they feel: 'Okay, you need to go back to work, go back to life.' But we can't."