Giving Compass' Take:

• In this story from Futurity, author Vanessa Wasta-Johns Hopkins discusses how ecstasy may reopen "critical periods" of learning and be used to treat PTSD.

• What steps could mental health advocates take to promote or support research into MDMA and PTSD?

• Want to learn more about treating PTSD? Click here to see how virtual reality may be used to heal the invisible wounds of war.

The psychedelic drug MDMA reopens a “critical period,” when the brain is sensitive to learning the reward value of social behaviors, according to a new study with mice.

The findings may explain why the drug may help treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Scientists first described critical periods in the 1930s using snow geese. About 24 hours after a gosling hatches, if it can’t find its mother, it will bond with an object, even a non-living one. But, if the mother disappears 48 hours after her gosling hatches, the critical period is over, and the hatchling won’t bond.

There is evidence for critical periods that pave the way for development of language, touch, and vision in humans too.

“We wanted to know if there was a critical period for learning social reward behaviors, and if so could we reopen it using MDMA, since this drug is well-known to have prosocial effects,” says neuroscientist Gül Dölen, assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Read the full article about ecstasy and PTSD by Vanessa Wasta-Johns Hopkins at Futurity