Nova survivors who took ecstasy may have been protected from trauma, study suggests

A new study by Israeli neuroscientists working with survivors of the Nova music festival suggests that the drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy, may have helped protect party-goers from psychological trauma.

Many of the Nova festival goers were high on drugs like MDMA and LSD when Hamas gunmen attacked the Re’im site on the morning of October 7. 

The preliminary results of a study from Israel’s Haifa University, currently under peer review and reported by the BBC, seem to show that those who took MDMA exhibited more positive mental states both during the event and in the months that followed.

Thought to be the first study of a mass trauma event where large numbers of people were under the influence of drugs, the findings could prove influential to ongoing research into the use of MDMA and other psychedelics in treating PTSD and trauma.