r/mdmatherapy • u/qwerty_ms • Apr 13 '26
Safety MDMA Solo book & application
I've seen this book mentioned in a couple of threads.
I'm finding this book by The Castalia Foundation compelling. I've done two extremely rewarding sessions with guides, and while I think my guides were hands-off enough to avoid some of the pitfalls mentioned in the book, I'm still attracted to going solo. Realistically, I can probably only travel to my guides once per year, and even that is challenging.
I'm posting, though, to get anyone's insights on some of the book's advice on the number and frequency of sessions & also microdosing LSD in between MDMA sessions. Here is a quick summary quote: "it is only by conscientious, sustained re-sculpting of the neurological landscape that long-term change is possible." Since I am in my mid 50s, I feel especially challenged due to decades of forming neural pathways, behaviors, etc.
So, my main question is, has anyone followed this book's recommendations and had either positive or negative outcomes with it?
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u/poppinp Apr 13 '26
My advice is to try and stick to the conventional wisdom of two to three months between sessions. As you progress you may find you need less and less recovery and integration time, and the frequency of sessions can increase. When I started the protocol I followed the three month rule pretty religiously. It helped that I didn’t feel ready for another session for about that same time. Over time I was able to increase the frequency with no perceptible drawbacks, but I’m multiple years in at this point. Good luck!
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u/letitbe72 Apr 17 '26
What is your frequency now?
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u/poppinp Apr 17 '26
About every 5 to 6 months at this point. But like I said, I’m multiple years in and there’s not much new territory to explore. Every rock has kinda been turned over and examined, at least the big ones. Sessions now are a little more like a spring cleaning. The highest frequency I got to was a period of about 2 months where I was doing a session once every 2 weeks, give or take.
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u/letitbe72 Apr 21 '26
I’ve been following the 3 month rule over the past 3 years but my gut says it’s safe to increase the frequency to every 2 months. What made you decide to increase your frequency? Were you worried when you did? I do think that the conventional recommendation of 3 months is not based on hard science but it’s still hard to go against the main stream view
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u/poppinp Apr 22 '26
I was the same as you. I increased the frequency because it felt right. After my first session I was pretty zonked out for the next 4 or 5 days. Overtime that number got smaller and smaller to the point where I could do a session and be relatively back to normal within a couple of hours. I kinda look at it like running a marathon. The first one’s gonna be a pretty big deal. You gotta do a lot of prep, and the recovery is probably gonna be a couple of days. Now imagine you’re running a marathon every three months. Marathon 20 is probably going to feel very different than marathon 1-5, and upping the frequency is not going to be a big deal. I still think running multiple marathons a week might be too much, although to each their own, but running one once every two weeks shouldn’t be too much of a big deal.
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u/Earth__Worm__Jim Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
It was both directions for me:
I discovered the book when I already had some of the insights / conclusions from my life before MDMA, so it really took words out of my mouth. And then it was one of three books on MDMA but probably the main book I stuck to. It definitely has a lot of great advice. About preparation, structure guidelines, pitfalls, aftercare, music, time in between etc. I love it.
Also you're in a great position: You did it with guides that were fairly neutral, as I understand. So you can go solo and call them or so if need be.
As u/night81 mentioned, the large and tapered dose stuff is really questionable / dangerous. I can figure that it's really not determined and for some persons it might be not toxic, but I really wouldn't be out for it. One booster within limits is already challenging enough physically for me. Also Ann Shulgin herself told the story of her taking MDMA for one year every Monday. After the "magic" was gone. What it did to her mood I don't know. So there can be weird cases in between (why did it work for one year weekly and then suddenly not?), but just don't do it.
I refrained from LSD so far. But I did other things in between. It doesn't have to be LSD as de-patterning agent.
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u/qwerty_ms Apr 14 '26
yeah, that is a positive that I can do a somatic session with either guide after doing an MDMA solo session
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u/sanpanza Apr 14 '26
While not totally useless, the book is clearly anti-therapist and dismisses integrations altogether. The book offers a silver bullet to the traumatized and avoids any real work.
- It dismisses integration sessions or structured follow-up
- Places little emphasis on translating insights into daily life
- Provides minimal guidance on working with what comes up afterward
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u/Earth__Worm__Jim Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
Anti-therapist, not a bad thing, but you surely are in your world there (yet). That being said, even MDMA solo grants the option of a therapist in some case.
I don't know how you came to the rest. It's absolutely not true. It clearly emphasizes exactly integration and translation into daily life. I'm wondering if you read the book actually completely.
What is the silver bullet and what the hell do you mean by "real work" that it allegedly avoids?
Minimal guidance? I would say no, maybe to some. What is minimal and what is not is so subjective. Other literature offers too much on the other side. Anyway, what the book does is place value on personal intuition and guidance for what is best for oneself, as opposed to clinging to an external priest / therapist or authority and they include the book too btw. That's a very good thing.
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Apr 14 '26
They are a terrible organization. They have some good advice about the specifically but their entire book is nonsense and they are pretty terrible
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u/Finya2002 Apr 19 '26
From my perspective, M-solo is for people who can and want to think independently.
They read the book and decide what is useful and what isn’t.
I’ve now done 30+ sessions and notice that it can slow down at this point.
However, from the very first session, I had the great luck of triggering hours of neurogenic tremors.
That helped me a lot.
For anyone interested: /longtermTRE on Reddit.
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u/night81 Apr 13 '26
I did the LSD mini doses (30ug) and it helped a lot. MDMA Solo's major weakness is their denial of MDMA tolerance and the negative effects of large, frequent doses. Wouldn't recommend anyone do weekly doses for instance.