> She added that it's "mind-boggling" that the drug could potentially change someone's beliefs in the way it is thought to have done with Brendan.<p>> But in the case of Brendan, he had recently been exposed as a white supremacist and lost his job when he was enrolled in the study. He was full of regret about getting caught out.<p>> 30 minutes after taking the MDMA pill, Brendan questioned: "Why am I doing this? Why am I thinking this way?" and wondered why he had jeopardized the relationships in his life.<p>Case study of one here, but MDMA can change your reference point for how you think about things that are connection related. He was already in crisis from losing his job and, likely, reputation. If I had to guess, Brendan realized humans are humans, and the future of humanity doesn't rely on abstract physical traits but on deeper things.<p>This is to say, I think they understand what many drug users do: the drug wasn't the difference; crisis was the difference and using the right tool led him out of that crisis. Think along the lines of, instead of this event being "the end" of Brendan (eg: losing his job and reputation) he now interprets it as a new beginning. The two discoveries together can chart a path forward.<p>The bit about the Taliban kind of reinforces this I think. Often the Taliban exploits people in crisis from my experience. They use the guiding during the drug to chart the user to a nationalist path.<p>> Nuwer pointed out that Brendan's "seemingly spontaneous change" appears to be an exception to the norm. MDMA releases the chemical oxytocin, which our bodies naturally produce. The chemical causes animals to fiercely love their own, but also protect them from others — which can mean a disdain for outsiders may actually increase.<p>I don't even know about this mess. Animals and humans are not the same when it comes to connection. Animals require domestication or some sort of symbiosis to cooperate while humans can do this with much more fluidity. I think this bit of data needlessly complicates what they observed with Brendan.<p>Future test recommendation: find a human in a moment of crisis (maybe need to be specific on what kinds) and administer a drug and therapy. Help them navigate said crisis and observe the results over the next 3 months, specifically in vectors of thought. You could even go as far as to map this progress to neurogenesis.