Sassafras

When you've experienced trauma and conventional treatments have failed, where do you turn? After unsuccessfully trying traditional therapy, renowned author and social researcher Rebecca Huntley chose an unconventional path to healing: MDMA.

The drug MDMA is made from the root of the sassafras tree. It is known as a party drug, taken to have a good time, to dance, to shed inhibitions. It has also, since early 2023, been authorised in Australia for use in treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

For those with PTSD, the goal is not to have a good time and dance: it is to find a way forward in their lives after trauma, and to find their way back to the person they were before they were traumatised. For Rebecca, this meant reconciling with the violence, trauma, death and despair that had taken root in her life. It also meant stopping a crushing cycle of intergenerational trauma for the sake of her children.

She had three sessions of MDMA therapy, delivered by an underground healer. The treatment changed her life, her view of the world and the way she saw the past, present and future. It led to greater wisdom, compassion and awareness of the connections between humans and the natural world.

Sassafras is the story of a woman determined to confront her traumatic past head on. In doing so she discovered something that could be of great benefit to us all.

Rebecca Huntley is director of research at 89 Degrees East. She is a fellow of the Research Society of Australia. Rebecca was the director of The Mind & Mood Report and integral to developing the Climate Compass Project. She has also authored several books, including How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way that Makes a Difference.

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