‘Ecstasy’ as a social drug: MDMA preferentially affects responses to emotional stimuli with social content
Margaret C. Wardle, Matthew G. Kirkpatrick, Harriet de Wit
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience March 27, 2014 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu035
Summary
MDMA enhances emotional responses, particularly towards social stimuli. In a study with 101 healthy occasional users, participants received varying doses of MDMA (0, 0.75, and 1.5 mg/kg) and rated their reactions to emotional images. Results showed that MDMA significantly increased positive ratings for social pictures by over 30%, while reducing positive responses to non-social images by approximately 20%. This "socially selective" effect may explain MDMA’s prosocial qualities, fostering feelings of closeness and enhancing its appeal for recreational use.
Abstract
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') is used recreationally to improve mood and sociability, and has generated clinical interest as a possible adjunct to psychotherapy. One way that MDMA may produce positive 'prosocial' effects is by changing responses to emotional stimuli, especially stimuli with social content. Here, we examined for the first time how MDMA affects subjective responses to positive, negative and neutral emotional pictures with and without social content. We hypothesized that MDMA would dose-dependently increase reactivity to positive emotional stimuli and dampen reactivity to negative stimuli, and that these effects would be most pronounced for pictures with people in them. The data were obtained from two studies using similar designs with healthy occasional MDMA users (total N = 101). During each session, participants received MDMA (0, 0.75 and 1.5 mg/kg oral), and then rated their positive and negative responses to standardized positive, negative and neutral pictures with and without social content. MDMA increased positive ratings of positive social pictures, but reduced positive ratings of non-social positive pictures. We speculate this 'socially selective' effect contributes to the prosocial effects of MDMA by increasing the comparative value of social contact and closeness with others. This effect may also contribute to its attractiveness to recreational users.