I have been researching this topic over a year and have accumulated a lot of information.

I don't believe in 99% of the bipolar diagnosis that are being handed out like candy these days.  The Big Pharmas run the psychiatric education and it's all about putting people on drugs so they make money.  The criteria for bipolar are so loosely interpreted that everyone fits.  They are just beginning to understand how much mental and physical illnesses are created by stress.

I think Jon is right, MDMA can cure you of certain stress related illnesses.

Here's how it works - you get traumatized, your primitive brain keeps track of things it thinks are related to the trauma.  Something happens to trigger one of those amydalgin memories and you have flashbacks, but don't know that's what's happening.  You're thinking flashback are like the tv shows with Vietnam vets and don't realize most of them are emotional, physical sorts of memories.  So you're up and down and reactive and anxious.  

I don't have a brain this morning, but it is important to understand that the DSM is just a statistics manual, many of those illnesses etc don't really exist, they are just excuses to give people certain medications and to attempt to make people who deviate from the norm conform.  Jeez now I sound paranoid!  I got my neurotransmitters screwed by 10 years of effexor.  

I got wise to how much doctors are controlled by pharma when my 2nd husband got colon cancer and I researched the various treatments.

MDMA can help people with PTSD because it promotes the release of oxytocin which is a transmitter that can make you feel more trusting.  There is evidence it can be used to help reprogram the amydalgin so that you don't get your flight or fight response to trivial cues.

Stress or more accurately the chemicals released during the flight or fight activation can do serious damage to your body and your brain.  You can get brain fog from it which makes it hard to think and communicate.

I've got several dvd's and piles of research papers on stress hormones and the effects.  

Be very careful of believing what psychology in the mainstream says.  There really is not much science in what they do.  

Sleepless Salat

oh yeah well that's what they sign up for they just can't wait! they are itchin' the squeeze the trigger or, slap some handcuffs on someone.
which reminds me of this con man i saw on a telivision show once who is now in the federal can, who conned himself into different professions one of them was a M.D. and he would perform prostate examinations on aspiring FBI canidates.
He admittedly was rather rough with them.
speaking of psychiatry i thought of a new diagnosis to marginalize people, it's called kleptonecrophiliopyromania since they were comming out with the new dsm 5 pretty soon I thought i would sell the idea to the authors.
It is defined as a person who steals corpses sets them afire then, has sex with them.
Or French personality disorder
you have French personality disorder if:
1) you smell bad, have bad breath, and or body odor.
2) you are incessantly rude to others, especially tourists
3) have a tendacy to walk around beaches displaying parts of your body which others prefer not to see.
4) have irrational fear of shaving and hygiene in general
I could come up with a few other diagnoses, but i'm just getting warmed up.

but on a more serious note this is also how alcohol can make people violent, the amygdala goes unchecked it's only purpose is to determine if one is under threat.
if it percieves threat then a rage reaction can ensue and one has little control of oneself.
the amygdala is usually suppressed by the frontal cortex but alcohol and other tranquilzers can dampen the frontal cortex and if a misperception of enviromental stimuli occurs (as it often does when one is drunk or on drugs) then the amygdala says fight and, it goes unopposed by the frontal cortex, which does the thinking.
if one is in a life/death situation you don't have time to even think because if you do you lose.
I learned that from being incarcerated to not think simply react without thinking because it takes a fraction of a second to lose, since action is faster than reaction hence the saying "it all happened so fast, i really can't recall"