Attack on festival

Israel: Drug said to have reduced the effects of trauma

The festival site during a memorial event(Bild: AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA)

On the morning of October 7, 2023, visitors to the Supernova festival in Israel saw and experienced terrible things that are difficult to come to terms with. However, a study has now revealed that drug use, of all things, may have offered some partygoers a certain psychological protection against trauma in the face of the atrocities.

Many festival-goers had consumed drugs when the Hamas terrorists attacked the event and caused a massacre. Neuroscientists have now found that intoxicated partygoers cope better with the traumatic consequences of this bloodbath than anyone who was sober during the attack. 

The researchers found that this also applied to the time during the incident and the time afterwards. More than 650 survivors were examined in the study - two out of three participants were under the influence of drugs such as MDMA, LSD, marijuana or psychoactive mushrooms during the carnage.

"MDMA provided the best protection," says Professor Roy Salomon, explaining the preliminary results of the study. Festival guests who had taken any substance that is also found in ecstasy pills coped better mentally with the experience. "They slept better, had fewer psychological problems - they were better off than the people who had not taken any substance," says the professor.

It is assumed that the prosocial hormones, such as oxytocin, led to this effect. These substances help to reduce anxiety and strengthen the feeling of connection between the victims. Survivors who were under the influence of MDMA were also better able to accept support from family and friends. 

"Being high saved my life"
The study was unable to determine whether drug use had a negative impact on the chances of escape of the festival-goers, as only survivors were the subject of the investigation. One victim explained that she was convinced that drugs had a positive effect on her survival - she neither froze nor collapsed when the terrorists invaded. "I feel like it saved my life that I was so high. It was as if I wasn't in the real world," explains Michal Ohana, who managed to escape. 

The study provides new findings that could be interesting for the use of MDMA in psychotherapy. There have already been experiments in the past in which the substance was used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the drug has so far only been approved for these purposes in Australia.