Use of MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), most commonly known as the street drug Ecstasy, has been approved by the FDA for supervised use in therapy for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The approval, known as Breakthrough Therapy Designation, was granted alongside approval of two upcoming Phase 3 trials (MAPP1 and MAPP2) of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for patients with severe PTSD, in a program designed by the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). MAPS has been working since 1986 to improve clinical and cultural understandings of the benefits of certain psychedelic drugs and marijuana.

The Breakthrough Therapy Designation is allotted by the FDA to treatment protocols that include single drugs or a combination aimed at treating life-threatening conditions or diseases. It may also be granted to protocols where preliminary research “may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints,” reports MAPS.

“For the first time ever, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy will be evaluated in Phase 3 trials for possible prescription use, with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD leading the way,” Rick Doblin, Founder and Executive Director of MAPS, said in a statement. “Now that we have agreement with FDA, we are ready to start negotiations with the European Medicines Agency.”

Under the Phase 3 trials, 200-300 subjects will test the drug or a placebo in three-day-long treatments over a 12-week period combined with psychotherapy sessions.

“Reaching agreement with FDA on the design of our Phase 3 program and having the ability to work closely with the agency has been a major priority for our team,” Amy Emerson, Executive Director of the MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, said in a statement. “Our Phase 2 data was extremely promising with a large effect size, and we are ready to move forward quickly. With breakthrough designation, we can now move even more efficiently through the development process in collaboration with the FDA to complete Phase 3.”

MAPS says after recently completing its Phase 2 trials with 107 participants, “61% no longer qualified for PTSD after three sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy two months following treatment. At the 12-month follow-up, 68% no longer had PTSD. All Phase 2 participants had chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD, and had suffered from PTSD for an average of 17.8 years.”

John Krystal, chairman of psychiatry at Yale University and a director at the VA’s National Center for PTSD, told the Washington Post that conventional drugs like Zoloft and Paxil are failing our returning soldiers in a big way. “If you’re a combat veteran with multiple tours of duty, the chance of a good response to these drugs is 1 in 3, maybe lower,”  he said. “That’s why there’s so much frustration and interest in finding something that works better.”

The MAPS-approved protocol combines psychotherapy sessions with supervised administration of MDMA in a clinical setting of three single-dose treatments.

“Phase 2 clinical trials have shown that MDMA can reduce fear and defensiveness, enhance communication and introspection, and increase empathy and compassion,” MAPS says, noting that the combined neurological effects can enhance the therapeutic process for people suffering from PTSD.

According to MAPS, approximately seven percent of the U.S. population and 11-17 percent of U.S. military veterans experience PTSD will experience PTSD.

“As of June 2016, more than 868,000 veterans were receiving disability compensation for PTSD, with an estimated taxpayer cost of $17 billion per year,” MAPS explains. “PTSD is a stress-related condition associated with reduced cognitive and psychosocial functioning, fractured relationships, inability to maintain employment, substance abuse, and increased risk of depression and suicide. In the general population, 27% of suicides are associated with PTSD.”

Drugs like MDMA, Doblin told the Post, “are a tool that can make people more compassionate, tolerant, more connected with other humans and the planet itself.”

Last April, Dr. Bronner’s, the popular natural soap and personal care company, pledged $5 million to MAPS’ research.

“There is tremendous suffering and pain that the responsible integration of MDMA for treatment-resistant PTSD will alleviate and heal,” David Bronner, Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO) of Dr. Bronner’s, said in a statement. “To help inspire our allies to close the funding gap, my family has pledged $1 million a year for five years—$5 million total—by far our largest gift to an NGO partner to date. In part, we were inspired by the incredible example of Ashawna Hailey, former MAPS Board member, who gave MAPS $5 million when she died in 2011.”

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

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The post MDMA Gets FDA Approval for Therapeutic Treatment of PTSD appeared first on EcoSalon.

PTSD is a relatively new diagnosis.

In 1980, The American Psychiatric Association added PTSD to the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM).

The DSM’s addition of PTSD was important because it explained that the event that causes personal trauma is outside of the individual—not a personal weakness.

Although traditional therapy methods are used to treat PTSD, new and helpful PTSD research is emerging.

Virtual Reality

The University of Central Florida’s RESTORES Clinic recently received $3 million in new funding to use virtual reality (VR). Its VR treatment is helping military service members, veterans, and first responders with PTSD, the West Orlando news reports.

The funding will help treat these populations and further the clinic’s research. It will help researchers advance simulation and virtual reality tactics.

This treatment may seem strange, but it’s been studied and fine-tuned for years, doctor Albert “Skip” Rizzo of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies, says.

Rizzo has worked with virtual reality and its therapeutic capabilities since the 1990s. Research was hampered by technology in the past. In 2017, this is no longer an issue.

“Finally, the technology has caught up with the vision in this area, and I expect it to really take off in the next year,” Rizzo told Business Insider.

“It has not been the theory or research that has held back clinical VR, rather the availability, adoption and costs that have limited its widespread use.”

Patients are slowly exposed to PTSD triggers during VR exposure therapy. With guidance and repeated treatments, patients “grow accustomed” to the scenario and gradually “cope” with the experience.

The Comprehensive Resource Model

Lisa Schwarz, a licensed psychologist has refined The Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM) over the past ten years. CRM combines psychology, spirituality, neurobiology, and shamanic “animal powers.” It’s used to treat some of the toughest PTSD cases.

CRM therapy requires patients to focus on physical sensations that arise from thinking about trauma.

To help patients deal with their feelings, Schwarz integrated Native American healing arts into her treatment regimen. The doctor combines breathing and visualization exercises, toning techniques, asks patients to think with their bodies, and has patients develop “power animals” that guide them through their memories.

“Really, the [CRM] model is a combination of neuroscience and spirituality,” Schwarz explains.

“We’re trying to really clarify the neurobiology so people can see the model for what it really is, and not what people presume it to be because of some of the aspects that seem to be a little… Strange.”

Thankfully, mental health doctors are learning how to incorporate new and old forms of PTSD treatment.

With time, PTSD may become easily treated. But until then, we’re happy many professionals are on the case.

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It comes as no surprise that incest survivors go through a lot of trauma. Unlike other types of sexual trauma, where the victim may not have a personal relationship to the attacker, incest hits so close to home–literally.

Imagine our disgust when we read that Oklahoma state Representative George Faught said “god can bring beauty from the ashes” of pregnancy from rape or incest.

Where’s the beauty?

Faught was defending controversial anti-abortion legislature. When he was asked to explain his comments, and clarify if he thinks rape is the will of god, he said:

“Well, you know, if you read the Bible, there’s actually a couple of circumstances where that happened. And the Lord uses all circumstances. I mean, you can get on that path, but you know it’s a reality, unfortunately.”

Faught added that rape and incest have nothing to do with his abortion legislation.

We’d like to inform Faught how terrible incest is and explain it’s a trauma that lasts a life time.

Incest is rape… and a lot more

Incest is far more complex than just rape or molestation. According to Psychology Today, incest also includes inappropriate acts—prolonged kissing, bathing a child after an inappropriate age, watching a child undress, and commenting on a child’s looks excessively, are just a few types of incestuous behavior. Some of these actions are called “covert incest” and can also be signs that more direct physical sexual abuse may be in the near future.

Covert incest describes a relationship between a parent and child in which the child feels more like a romantic partner, Dr. Kenneth Adams explains.

“Typically the parent is motivated by the loneliness and emptiness of a troubled marriage, so she (or he) turns the child into a surrogate partner. There is not necessarily any kind of overt sexual touching, but the relationship feels too close for comfort to the child. The boundaries are such that there is an incestuous feeling. The child feels used and trapped, the same as with overt incest.”

Incest also may be perpetrated by people who are in power positions—not just parents–older siblings, stepparents, cousins, grandparents, etc, and can begin at such a young age, a child may not know that it’s inappropriate or even have the words to define it.

Treatment

Incest is so hard to treat because young children often do not have the words or the “power” to report these acts.

Also, sometimes incest acts aren’t violent in the way we often frame sexual abuse. There may be no physical signs of abuse.

People who have experienced incest typically blame themselves for acts done to them. And the shame a victim feels can be more traumatic because the sex act or abuse was done by a family member. Other family members could also pressure a child to not say anything as to not “upset” the family dynamic.

PTSD stemming from incest often shows itself via self-injury, substance abuse, eating disorders, issues with disassociation, and promiscuity. An adult who suspects that a child is experiencing incest should contact Child Protective Services. And when discussing the abuse with the child, always offer your belief in their account of the situation.

Although treating incest is often painful and difficult for the patient, resolution can occur. “If approached circumspectly, gently, and with patience, the vast majority of those who have experienced incest can experience considerable improvement and enjoy an enhanced quality of life without succumbing to repeated victimization,” Richard P. Kluft, MD and PhD, says.

If you’re an adult who has experienced incest, consider going to one on one therapy, and attending group therapy. Also: Visit Rainn.org for other ideas and options.

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The post Incest, Pregnancy, and Abortion: #NowWhat appeared first on EcoSalon.

So, what other treatments can help PTSD?

Charles Shaw examines the ways that Ayahuasca, an herbal concoction of rainforest plants, can help people get past their PTSD. Learn how—and try not to judge—while watching the video below.

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The post Healing in Ibiza: ‘At Home in the Dark’ appeared first on EcoSalon.

Imagine not being able to get treatment for an illness because the treatment is illegal.

In “The Agony & The Ecstasy,” Charles Shaw examines how MDMA can help people with PTSD recover. The catch, though, is that MDMA is illegal—even though it could be beneficial. This fact lead Shaw down a road that ended at a prison.

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Addiction is tricky.

And apparently, because addiction was first defined many years ago, its meaning—and who it affects—have evolved, too.

In the video below, learn how addiction affects some Americans. And also find out why sometimes, abstinence isn’t the answer—addressing underlying PTSD is.

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The post A New Model for Addiction: ‘At Home in the Dark’ appeared first on EcoSalon.

Did you know that PTSD’s evolution can be tracked through history?

The next video in the “At Home In the Dark” series tackles the history of PTSD by tracking it through four large historical movements:

1. The movement to get women the right to vote.

2. The movement to get soldiers adequate help after returning from war.

3. The movement to acknowledge sexual assault and violence against women and those who identify as LGBTQ.

4. The modern movement to respond to terrorism, climate change, and global wars.

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The post The Historical Origins of PTSD: ‘At Home in the Dark’ appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sixty to 80 percent of victims of severe trauma will experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD. According to the PTSD Foundation of America, PTSD affects eight percent of Americans, more than 24 million people annually, but numbers may be even higher as millions suffer without seeking help or are improperly treated. Despite its prevalence, the condition is largely misunderstood and as a result, often misdiagnosed. Author and filmmaker Charles Shaw, a PTSD sufferer himself, has released a 17-part film series in an EcoSalon exclusive running through March. “At Home in the Dark,” addresses both Shaw’s own battle with PTSD and the millions of others who suffer with it every day.

Shaw, a fourth-generation Chicagoan and a longtime political activist, detailed his year spent in the Illinois prison system for drug possession more than a decade ago in his 2012 book, “Exile Nation: Drugs, Prison, Politics, and Spirituality.” Now in his mid-forties, Shaw’s expressive eyes, a mix of puppy and parolee, hint to his past not just as a prisoner and drug addict, but a victim of a lifetime of abuse. Then, in 2013, his sister Suraya took her own life. But still, he’s hopeful; there’s gleam in those eyes, there’s perseverance and strength.

“Although my sister’s suicide was the catalyst to formally design and execute a film project,” says Shaw, “I had spent much of the previous decade slowly coming to awareness about my own PTSD complex.”

Shaw suffers from a form of PTSD known as Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “It is the result of long-term exposure to trauma or abuse, and it manifests itself in the victim much differently than Acute Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is the result of a single, stand-alone trauma, like a rape or car accident or death of a loved one,” he explains.

CPTSD can express itself in a wide variety of disorders like addiction, anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, and various OCDs, notes Shaw. “We’ve been treating all of these like individual stand alone ‘illnesses’ when in fact it seems that they are more likely all symptoms of trauma and abuse,” he says. “We focus specifically on the symptom of addiction in ‘At Home in the Dark’ because it was the dominant symptom in my and my sister’s lives.”

Like many sufferers of PTSD or CPTSD, Shaw says he was unaware that was what was plaguing him for decades,” it was not until my early 40s that I learned of this distinction, and by then, by certain accounts, it was too late, the damage had been done,” he says. “Had I only known then that the anxiety and addiction and depression that ruled my life could have been treated differently on all levels, I might not have suffered as greatly.”

Treating PTSD

Dmitri Mugianis, a producer of the film and an initiate in the Bwiti iboga plant medicine, runs a holistic component in harm reduction and needle exchange in Harlem, New York. He’s leery of using the term “healer” to describe his work, and refers to it as “holding space” for people seeking alternative modalities for processing their trauma. In addition to Iboga, he works with sound meditation, dance, and music.

“The biggest challenge with PTSD,” says Mugianis, is that “trauma is a core human experience. We live, we suffer,” but some of us, he says, “suffer in horrible, horrible ways. That’s what PTSD is about.”

According to Dr. Andrew Segovia Kulik, Chairman of Psychiatry, Cook County Health and Hospital System, Adjunct Clinical Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Board Certified Forensic and General Psychiatrist, many who suffer from PTSD also “either suffer from substance use disorders, or seek substances out in an effort to numb themselves and self-medicate.”

Kulik notes that once someone has started using, “then participating in criminal activity in order to obtain said substances is not uncommon, leaving them to be exposed to a seedier aspect of society. This certainly correlates with increased criminal activity and violence.”

Mugianis says part of the problem is that conventional PTSD treatments so often fail victims because there is this erroneous idea “that anything material can solve human problems.” He says the medical industrial complex–where most people seek treatment–is problematic because the “so-called cure,” mainly pharmaceutical medications, can be more damaging than helpful.

“There is a multi-billion dollar industry built around treating the symptoms of trauma as individual, stand-alone illnesses,” says Shaw, “and it’s always hardest to move market forces when something is so profitable (i,.e. oil, guns, drugs).”

And the treatments for PTSD, mainly antidepressants, can be as painful a process as the trauma itself.

“[Antidepressants] have all kinds of side effects, and we have no idea, really, what they’re doing,” Dr. David Presti, a professor of neurobiology at UC Berkeley told Ayelet Waldman for her recent book “A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage and My Life.”

“They cost a lot of money,” says Presti, “and they’re marketed with all kinds of flimflam.”

While antidepressants are among the most prescribed drugs in the U.S., they’re not always effective. Certain medications may not work initially, and a patient may need to try a number of antidepressants before finally finding one that mitigates their symptoms. But these medications are inherently flawed; they don’t help sufferers process their trauma, they only mask it. And the side effects, like weight gain or decreased libido, common with many antidepressants, can bring a whole new set of anxieties or stresses and other medications to treat those conditions.

In her book, Waldman explores a month-long journey with microdosing LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), the psychedelic drug popular with 1960s and ‘70s counterculture. While it’s known for its intensely long visual hallucinations, Waldman used extremely low doses (about one-tenth the dose for a psychedelic “trip”) to treat her ongoing anxiety, mood swings, and bouts of depression. And her positive results with LSD also suggest that the pharmaceutical industry, while effective in treating many types of conditions, may be falling short when it comes to finding treatments for mental health issues.

Psychedelics–LSD, Iboga, psilocybin, MDMA, and ayahuasca–have become powerful tools in the war against PTSD. MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) received approval late last year for trials in PTSD treatment, and Waldman is hopeful LSD will be soon considered another viable option.

Shaw details the use of several psychedelics in the film series, including two segments on PTSD veterans who go to the Peruvian jungle for ayahuasca ceremonies; as well as MDMA’s potential as a viable treatment; and Iboga’s ability to help treat drug addiction, a particularly critical aspect of PTSD treatment as many PTSD sufferers often find themselves drug addicts, turning to opiods like heroin or oxycotin to mute the pain of unaddressed trauma.

“That’s because [street] drugs work,” Mugianis says, “they’re very effective at masking symptoms of trauma.” Mugianis battled his own addiction to heroin using Iboga and other alternative methods. Shaw found reprieve from a crack cocaine addiction through ayahuasca.

Prison

Cook County, Illinois, is home to the largest free-standing jail in the U.S., which sees about 10,000 inmates pass through each year, and where Shaw spent a year for possession of MDMA. According to Kulik, who works closely with the prison system, seeing inmates with drug problems and PTSD is all too common, not just in Cook County, but across the country.

With Kulik’s help, Cook County is now employing programs aimed at treating inmates for addiction and PTSD so that they leave the system having dealt with at least some of their issues. It’s a program garnering national attention.

“Within the past year, we have treated hundreds of more individuals throughout the city and county than the year prior for these disorders,” Kulik says. “We have also partnered with many other clinics in the city [that are not part of CCHHS] to train their staff to offer more services within the community for substances. In addition, we have aggressively trained over 25 additional doctors within CCHHS within the past three months who previously did not participate in this type of treatment. This team will start to treat those with substance use disorders within our own 16 CCHHS ambulatory clinics throughout Cook County.”

Kulik says treating  prisoners before they leave can keep them from returning, “they’re less likely to turn toward drugs or crime if they’ve processed their trauma before leaving the system.” Keeping criminals from becoming repeat offenders is a huge saving for taxpayers, as well as a potential life saver for the prisoners if they’re able to stay out of the system after being released. 

Despite efforts like those happening in Cook County, PTSD is still widely misunderstood, and, according to Shaw, too often presented by the media exclusively in the context of war veterans, “and then, generally, only when some egregious violent act has been committed by said PTSD sufferer, such as murdering his spouse, jumping the White House fence with a knife, or going on a shooting rampage,” he says.

“I don’t know why this is, but I am confident it is related to the reasons why Complex PTSD is not officially sanctioned,” says Shaw, “I mean, it was a 60-year battle to get the Military to acknowledge PTSD in the first place (aka ‘Shell Shock’ and ‘War Trauma’).” Prior to that, he says it was most often dismissed as cowardice or weakness. “Frankly, I’m not sure I want to know the type of person who isn’t completely devastated psychologically by the concept of mass slaughter.”

Societal Trauma

According to Dr. Dawn McGuire, a neurologist and award-winning poet who recently released a book of poetry, “American Dream with Exit Wound,” about her experience with war veterans suffering with PTSD, “they leave the war and are expected to re-integrate, without transition, without attention to the psychic splits and moral fractures that their service to our nation has required.” 

McGuire says they “end up in a kind of solitary confinement,” because they’re not only dealing with their trauma in such a deeply personal way, but often socially isolated as well. “Their brains are in flames.”  

“We as a society are not yet ready to confront and accept that our very culture is traumatizing in nature,” says Shaw. “We have such a deeply ingrained propaganda-belief system that we still think the U.S. is the ‘most free and prosperous’ society on Earth. Having to face that your job and your mortgage and your marriage and family are causing you great pain and distress is to shatter the myths of the American dream and the nuclear family.”

Mugianis says the biggest problem he sees with PTSD is the misconception that to be in crisis is somehow a moral failing, but the truth is that while “something is wrong,” it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the person for suffering.

The films also explore trauma in societal context–Detroit’s post-industrial trauma, poverty, and the ongoing war between Israelis and Palestinians in a powerful segment called “The Drama Triangle.” Shaw poignantly draws the parallel between the suffering endured by Jews during the Holocaust and the trauma they’re now allowing to continue against Palestinians.

“Following the Holocaust, the Jewish people who came together to form the State of Israel were committed to never again let the Jewish people be victimized in that way,” he says. “They were highly motivated to protect (italics his) themselves by any means necessary. To them, it meant eliminating an exterior threat they perceived in the Palestinians. Thus, they invaded and occupied, and became the abusers, completing the cycle.”

Because abusers were often abused, and trauma, like what’s happening in Israel, is a dynamic situation, “until you can stop justifying your abuse through your own victimhood, you will never become compassionate to the suffering of others,” Shaw says. “To break out of this is to recognize one’s role in the dramas one has caused or exacerbated, take responsibility for them, cease engaging in the same patterns of behavior, and examine the new stimulus and response cycles that emerge.”

PTSD in America

Many Americans, and the world at large, are experiencing at least a mild form of PTSD with the recent election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the U.S. It’s not a stress like living through rape, war, or the Holocaust, but Shaw notes that trauma is a reaction by our systems to “a certain kind of threat stimuli which causes a fight or flight response.”

A flawed election system that allows a candidate to win the popular vote (Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by more than three million popular votes) and still be declared the loser based on Electoral College votes can certainly elicit that “fight or flight” response; it’s infuriating to some, confusing to many, and those reactions can trigger a sort of PTSD.

“People are increasingly more erratic, volatile, and irrational during periods of trauma,” notes Shaw, “most frighteningly, they are also the most highly suggestible, making them easily pliable for programming with any number of vile ideas, and most vulnerable to the most dangerous form of mob mentality.”

He points to 9/11 and its aftermath, “It was fucking surreal,” he says. “For a week everyone was nice to each other like it was an episode of “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”; underneath it was a seething homicidal rage towards Muslims which was expressed in many high profile public assaults of anyone who had any sort of fabric on their heads. It was surrounded by a universal and absolute fealty to the Bush Administration and the MSM. We should be very concerned about the current administration utilizing the ‘Shock Doctrine’ It’s already off to an unprecedented start.”

Mugianis says we’re at a crossroads, pointing to Trump as a “trickster metaphor” often employed in different cultures to signify a time of great change. “He’s either a medicine or poison,” says Mugianis, “the choice is ours in how we perceive that.”

He says the fear and trauma people are now experiencing as a result of the new president is a time for self-examination, “there’s an alchemy that can come from this, an opportunity to create space for each other, and for ourselves to heal and grow together.”

Shaw is hopeful that perceptions about trauma are shifting how we interact as a whole, “as more people come to recognize the patterns associated with PTSD, we can hopefully develop a more compassionate response as a society, he says.

“I think a huge part of the struggle is the fact that PTSD sufferers feel so alone, and so rejected, so feared. We need to demystify it, and remove the fear,” Shaw says. “We need to get rid of the word ‘normal.’”

We’ll be sharing videos from “At Home in the Dark” all through the month of March here on EcoSalon, so be sure to check back every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the latest installment.

Today, we’re sharing the first three segments of the series:

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

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The post New Film Series ‘At Home in the Dark’ Sheds Light on PTSD [EcoSalon Exclusive] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does abortion cause psychological trauma? No, but judging might.

The imagined link between abortion and psychosis is just that: imaginary. But just in case we weren’t sure, last month, the New England Journal of Medicine published a Danish study showing definitively that abortion does not put a woman at increased risk for subsequent psychiatric disorders.

This isn’t even news, but try saying that at the picket line. Last year’s UCSF-Guttmacher Institute study found no relationship between abortion and later mental health problems. In 2008, Johns Hopkins did a meta-analysis of studies and came to the same conclusion. The American Psychological Association’s official position is that abortion does not lead to increased risk of mental health problems, a position the association has held since 2008.

But why stop saying something just because it happens to not be true? Despite the evidence from reputable health authorities, the battle goes on. And that’s just the way the anti-choice movement likes it.

In the late ’80s, the anti-abortion movement realized that screeching about Jesus was not winning them many fans, and that most people, pro-lifers included, tended to support things like individual liberty and protecting women’s health. So instead of putting all the focus on the fetus, they added a softer, gentler, more insidious tactic: claiming that abortion hurts women. They turned the debate from one about sticky moral questions like “When does life begin?” into one about objective science and medicine, re-casting women as the vulnerable victims.

Suddenly, abortions were causing breast cancer, subjecting women to dangerous surgery, impairing fertility, and triggering a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder called “post–abortion syndrome.” If you believed the hype, women everywhere were suffering from incapacitating depression, guilt, despair, regret, and suicidal thoughts, even though not one reputable or methodologically sound study has ever supported any of these claims. At any anti-abortion rally today, the signs claiming “I regret my abortion” or “Abortion hurts women,” are likely to outnumber the signs depicting gruesomely dismembered fetuses – because it works.

Despite being medically suspect (and we’re being generous here), the mental health claim has been a successful tactic in chipping away at choice. Even the specter of these claims is enough to allow the anti-choice movement to pass laws requiring that women watch ultrasounds, receive counseling, hear inaccurate medical information, or undergo a state-mandated waiting period before having an abortion, all under the guise of concern for our welfare.

If you think the paternalistic faux concern was limited to Bible-belt senators, think again. In his majority opinion upholding the 2007 partial-birth abortion ban, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy  wrote, “The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed. It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns…what once she did not know.” This is for our own good, you see.

Of course, there’s no right or wrong way to react to an abortion. Research shows that most women report feeling relief, but some women do experience sadness or guilt. A few even experience regret. But studies have repeatedly found that the best predictor of a woman’s mental health after an abortion is her mental health beforehand. Those relatively few women who do experience prolonged grief, anxiety, or depression are more likely to have had mental health problems before the procedure, they are more likely to have less social support for their decision, and they are more likely to have been influenced by anti-choice propaganda or picketers. The stable women who were healthy and happy before they had an abortion tend to be just as healthy and happy afterward.

Choice doesn’t hurt women. Misinformation does.

Image: Joe Szilagyi

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