US researchers have competed a study in which they found that Ecstasy may help boost therapy sessions in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Researchers conducted a small trial in whicn patients suggest use of the drug is safe and seems to improve the effects of their psychotherapy.

The team has been granted permission for a larger study on military veterans with PTSD, but still says that more research is needed to confirm the findings.

An experts from the UK says that it is still hard to make these claims after such a small study, and emphasized caution.

The rave drug is thought to reduce fear, enabling patients to get more out of therapy.

In the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the team claimed that patients were picked on strict criteria. The had to have PTSD for many years, and were unsuccessful with conventional treatment.

Doctors also eliminated patients with prior addictions or a past of psychosis.

For the trial, patients were given two eight-hour psychotherapy sessions, scheduled a few weeks apart with 12 patients being given MDMA and the reaming a placebo.

Two months later, 10 of the 12 patients given the ecstasy (MDMA) responded to the treatment.

Only two of the eight patients in the control group show improvement.

There were no adverse effects from the drug in the study, which received funding from Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

MAPS is a not-for-profit organization that aims to research and develop psychedelic drugs and marijuana into medicines to treat conditions where conventional medicine fails to succeed.

Dr Michael Mithoefer, the study leader and psychiatrist, said before MDMA, as it is clinically known, was used as a recreational, party drug, hundreds if psychiatrists and psychotherapists used the drug to boost therapy around the world.

He said, "Therapies for PTSD involve revisiting trauma in a therapeutic setting.

"But some reasons for it not being effective can be if the person is flooded with emotions they can't process or they have emotional 'numbing'.

"But MDMA seems to bring people into the optimal zone for therapy and seems to help them process the trauma and not be overwhelmed by feelings."

The next step, he said, was to start a new trial in 40 military veterans before more studies in large groups of patients.

The team is also asking patients about long-term effects and finding out if it increases the chance they will take the drug for recreational use. Dr Mithoefer said the results, so far, were reassuring.

If the technique is to be used more, it would need special clinics prepared for long therapy sessions and overnight stays, he said.

Professor Simon Wessely, who is an expert in PTSD at King's College London and honorary consultant adviser in psychiatry for the British army, said that due to the small size of the research, it is dificult to draw conclusions at this time.

He warned, "Given that substance abuse is associated with many mental health problems including PTSD, I would want to see a lot more data before recommending this."