In other words, the mothers with post traumatic stress syndrome had passed on a vulnerability to the condition to their children while they were still in utero.

Patterns of avoidance and withdrawal reinforce the painful memories instead of extinguishing them.

In the babies of those women who developed post traumatic stress syndrome, or PTSD, following their ordeal, researchers discovered a biological marker of susceptibility to PTSD an effect that was most pronounced in infants whose mothers experienced the catastrophe in their third trimester.

Now, already in the case of the brain disorders that I've been talking to you about, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, while we don't have an in depth understanding of how they are abnormally processed or what the brain is doing in these illnesses, we have been able to already identify some of the connectional differences, or some of the ways in which the circuitry is different for people who have these disorders.

What is PTSD?

Nearly one in seven US service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD.

A cheaper and more effective solution is urgently needed for service members suffering from PTSD.

After returning from Iraq, soldier suffers from post traumatic stress disorder,

In a recent study, 83 of people who received MDMA assisted psychotherapy no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis after treatment.

PTSD involves changes in the brain.

War is a significant source of the PTSD epidemic in the US and around the world.

PTSD patients often avoid expressing their emotions, experience persistent fear and hyper arousal.

On average, these subjects were still free of a PTSD diagnosis 3.8 years later.

These extremely powerful results indicate a promising future for MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.

In a particularly dangerous environment, the characteristic manifestations of PTSD a hyper awareness of one's surroundings, a quick trigger response to danger could save someone's life.

He was married, he had a third kid on the way, he suffered from PTSD, in addition to the bad back, and recurrent nightmares, and he had started using marijuana to ease some of the symptoms.

Now consider this post traumatic stress syndrome appears to be a reaction to stress gone very wrong, causing its victims tremendous unnecessary suffering.

And one story I want to tell you about is how can we find targets for treating post traumatic stress disorder a form of uncontrolled anxiety and fear.

In 2011, the US Veterans Administration spent about 5.5 billion on PTSD disability payments to approximately 275,000 veterans.

Now already in a case of the brain disorders that I've been talking to you about, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, we don't have an in depth understanding of how they are abnormally processed or what the brain is doing in those illnesses.

A single diagnosis of PTSD can cost up to 1 and a half million dollars in taxpayer funded benefits over a soldier's lifetime.

I just want to say that we are applying this to many world problems changing the drop out rates of school kids, combating addictions, enhancing teen health, curing vets' PTSD with time metaphors getting miracle cures promoting sustainability and conservation, reducing physical rehabilitation where there is a 50 percent drop out rate, altering appeals to suicidal terrorists, and modifying family conflicts as time zone clashes.

Studies show that PTSD patients have decreased activity in brain areas associated with memory and learning, and increased activity in areas associated with fear.

As increasing numbers of US soldiers return home with PTSD, it is a national priority and ethical obligation to develop more effect treatments.

Further clinical trials of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD are taking place around the world, and they can only be completed with your help.