On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked the Nova music festival, killing 360 innocent people and and kidnapping more than three dozen others. Many of the 3,500 people enjoying the music when the nightmare began were high on psychedelics at the time.
"We had people hiding under the bodies of their friends for hours while on LSD or MDMA," said Haifa University neuroscientist Roy Salomon who is currently studying whether the drugs protected the victims to some degree from the trauma of the horrific experience.
Early results suggest being high helped. Scientists believe this is the first study of mass trauma involving many people under the influence of psychedelic drugs.
From the BBC News:
The research tracked the psychological responses of more than 650 survivors from the festival. Two-thirds of these were under the influence of recreational drugs including MDMA, LSD, marijuana or psilocybin – the compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms – before the attacks took place.
"MDMA, and especially MDMA that was not mixed with anything else, was the most protective," the study has found, according to Prof Salomon.
He said those on MDMA during the attack appeared to cope much better mentally in the first five months afterwards, when a lot of processing takes place.
"They were sleeping better, had less mental distress – they were doing better than people who didn't take any substance," he said.
The team believes pro-social hormones triggered by the drug – such as oxytocin, which helps promote bonding – helped reduce fear and boost feelings of camaraderie between those fleeing the attack.
And even more importantly, they say, it appears to have left survivors more open to receiving love and support from their families and friends once they were home.
Previously:
• MDMA dose alters white supremacist's radical beliefs
• FDA denies approval of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD
• MDMA can help treat PTSD, yet another study shows
• Scientists gave octopi MDMA, the results were 'unbelievable'
