R White loves being a mom, even though she faces some challenges some parents don’t.

“I grew up with physical and emotional abuse, and I didn't even know that I was being abused until early adulthood," said White, who is diagnosed with PTSD.

What You Need To Know

  • According to the National Center for PTSD, about 6% of the U.S. population will have it at some point in their lives

  • A federal advisory committee voted against the use of MDMA, or ecstasy, as a treatment for PTSD. And this was the first time FDA advisers have considered a psychedelic drug for medical use

  • The committee voted no for many reasons, according to a professor at UAlbany, one of them is is the fact that behavioral therapy and the use of MDMA was submitted for approval as a combined package. The FDA is not in the business of regulating therapy

She was diagnosed and works every day to be a better parent for her little boy.

“I’m in a place in my life where I'm at peace with what happened, but that doesn't mean the triggers still don't come," White said.

White said PTSD can be taxing physically and emotionally. According to the National Center for PTSD, about 6% of the U.S. population will have it at some point in their lives.

In June, a federal advisory committee voted against the use of MDMA, or ecstasy, as a treatment for PTSD. And this was the first time FDA advisers have considered a psychedelic drug for medical use.

“Behavioral therapy plus the drug add-on as one combined package. That was what was submitted for approval. That was one of the issues the FDA faced. The FDA is not in the business of regulating therapy. They're in the business of regulating drugs," said Ewan McNay, associate professor at UAlbany for behavioral neuroscience.

McNay said psychedelics in general work by altering the release and levels of neurotransmitters in your brain. These are the chemicals that allow neurons to communicate with each other, like dopamine and serotonin.

“So that's why someone might think this drug would work, right? It's going to have a similar action to drugs that we know are effective. And it's going to affect the neural systems that are known to be somewhat disrupted in conditions like PTSD," McNay said.

In most clinical trials there are two groups, a group on the drug and the control group, not on the drug.

Another issue was these MDMA trials were supposed to be double-blinded, meaning neither the patients nor researchers knew what group they were in.

“In the case of MDMA, the problem was it's very obvious to both patients and to their therapists whether or not you were in the control group, because their control group was a sugar pill. It wasn't psychoactive at all," McNay said.

R White has never taken MDMA but says regardless of the treatment, she can attest to PTSD affecting her entire life. Which is why she published a book of her poetry titled, "Unmuted: FromScilence to Song, Pain to Poetry, Fear to Freedom."

“Even if it's just one poem, I'm hoping that people read it and if they're going through something similar,  they know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," White said.