The case suggested that MDMA has the potential to "influence a person's values and priorities," the authors wrote in a case study about Brendan. They hypothesized that if extremist views are fueled by fear, anger, and cognitive biases, they could potentially be treated with drugs.

It's interesting to learn, what this paragraph seems to suggest, that for some people holding extremist views is actually the result of mental illness. It is probably hard for people to realize and/or even admit that they are ill until something drastic happens.

[–] Gaywallet@beehaw.org 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Fear, anger, and cognitive biases are not mental illness. Experiencing emotions is a completely normal human experience. All humans have cognitive biases because of how our brains our wired.

[–] Gatsby@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes thats true.

That's not what they said though.

They said extremism. Which is absolutely not a completely normal human experience.

[–] Gaywallet@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Extremist views are not normal, correct. I was addressing the quote and response because I want to be clear about the implications of a single anecdotal finding amongst a study on a drug being used for a very different purpose than the context being examined here. I don't want people jumping to too many conclusions.

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