Escritos de Psicología / Psychological Writings
June 29, 2026
Diego Fernández Piedra, A. López, Enrique Gallego-Granero et al.
MDMA use among young people in Spain is common in recreational settings, with 80.6% of survey respondents reporting past-year use. Although many users adopt self-care strategies, only 27.5% follow the recommended dosing interval, and use often involves combining MDMA with alcohol and cannabis. Information about risks is validated within peer networks, which shapes both risk perception and consumption patterns. The findings suggest that effective risk-reduction strategies should integrate scientific evidence with user experiences and be tailored to the social and consumption dynamics of young people.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
June 20, 2026
Ewen Kervadec, Pauline Mathieu, Baptiste Fauvel et al.
A French translation of the Altered States of Consciousness (5D-ASC) questionnaire was psychometrically validated using data from 777 participants who recalled a past naturalistic psychedelic experience. The 11-subscale structure showed better fit than higher-order models, though fit indices fell slightly below conventional thresholds. Internal consistency was excellent for global scores (α = 0.95) and satisfactory across subscales (α = 0.63–0.84). Measurement invariance across substance categories was confirmed, with latent factor differences aligning with known pharmacological profiles. The findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the French 5D-ASC's validity, enabling francophone research linking subjective experience to therapeutic outcomes.
PLoS ONE
June 18, 2026
Elisa Liberati, Hv Curran, Peter Fonagy et al.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy shows promise for treating PTSD, but the psychological mechanisms behind its effects are not well understood. This qualitative study will have approximately 25 experienced psychodynamic psychotherapists receive two doses of MDMA (80-120 mg, oral) in an open-label design. Participants will complete interviews before, during, and after MDMA sessions, plus daily journals. Researchers will use phenomenological and thematic analysis, along with grounded theory, to develop a model of MDMA's psychological mechanisms of action. The study treats therapists as expert observers of their own psychological processes, aiming to generate insights that can inform future treatment models and offer a framework for qualitative mechanistic research on psychedelics.
Drug Metabolism and Personalized Therapy
June 16, 2026
Faezeh Ahmadi, Hoda Lavasani, Mohammadhosein Keshvadi et al.
A single dose of MDMA (ecstasy) inhibits the liver enzyme CYP2D6, but the duration of inhibition depends on the concentration of the probe drug used to measure enzyme activity. Using a therapeutic concentration of dextromethorphan (2 µM), enzyme activity was significantly reduced only at 1 hour after MDMA, with recovery by 1 week. Using a saturated concentration (300 µM), activity was reduced at 1 hour, 1 week, and 1 month. The results suggest that the apparent recovery time of CYP2D6 after MDMA exposure varies with probe concentration, likely due to differences in metabolic pathways at different substrate levels.
Psychopharmacology (Berl)
June 13, 2026
The text examines how blinding and expectancy effects complicate placebo-controlled trials of MDMA, introducing the concept of an 'active placebo paradox.' It argues that the strong subjective effects of MDMA make true blinding nearly impossible, which can inflate treatment effects and undermine causal inference. The authors suggest that expectancy and unblinding may account for a substantial portion of the therapeutic outcomes reported in MDMA research, raising questions about the validity of findings from such trials.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
June 10, 2026
Bruno Pereira Dos Santos, Vítor Camargo Pôrto, Letícia Birk et al.
In Brazil, ecstasy-type drugs are the most commonly seized synthetic drugs, and recent years have seen a shift from MDMA to its analog MDA, possibly due to changes in synthetic routes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of drug seizures in Rio Grande do Sul found MDA in 31.1% of samples, surpassing MDMA at 25.6%, with MDA detections peaking at 52.6% in 2023. Clinical and forensic cases also showed MDA predominating from 2021 onward. This higher prevalence of MDA indicates a change in ecstasy use patterns, highlighting the need for robust analytical methods and ongoing toxicological monitoring to inform drug surveillance and public health policies.
Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen
June 10, 2026
The abstract notes that MDMA is used both clinically and non-clinically, but provides no further details about the nature, extent, or findings of such use.
ChemRxiv
June 9, 2026
Matthew Gardner, Alexander Power, Anca Frinculescu et al.
A low-cost, field-portable device using Hybridized Spectral Fingerprinting (HSF) and deep learning can rapidly screen illicit drug samples for MDMA dosage and cocaine/ketamine purity. A convolutional neural network trained on 62 GC-EI-MS quantified MDMA tablets classified samples into 1–170 mg or 170–300 mg dosage brackets, achieving 98% accuracy on 195 external test samples. Another model trained on 1H NMR quantified cocaine and ketamine samples provided presumptive identification and semi-quantitative purity estimation with 96% accuracy on 47 external samples. The approach supports harm reduction and police screening by alerting on potentially harmful MDMA tablets and estimating cocaine and ketamine purity.
Psychoactives
June 8, 2026
Fizza Mitter, Anton Sheptooha, Janni Leung et al.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often not well treated by current medications or talk therapies, leading to interest in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials with 358 participants examined MDMA, ketamine, and cannabidiol. MDMA-assisted psychotherapy produced a moderate-to-large reduction in PTSD symptoms, with more participants achieving clinical response and loss of PTSD diagnosis. Ketamine showed a small, non-significant effect, and one trial of cannabidiol found no clear benefit. All agents were generally well tolerated. The evidence is dominated by MDMA trials, and safety data remain insufficient for strong comparisons. More studies with standardized outcomes and direct comparisons are needed.
University of Chicago
June 6, 2026
Ruiyan Hu
Negative Emotionality (NEM), a tendency toward intense negative emotions and heightened reactivity, was examined in 30 healthy volunteers in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. NEM did not predict baseline friendliness or changes in social connectedness after a closeness-building procedure. Higher NEM showed a trend toward greater MDMA-induced peak friendliness change. In an exploratory model, NEM predicted MDMA-induced oxytocin release after accounting for sex. These preliminary findings suggest that individual differences in personality and sex may shape drug response, with implications for patient selection and dose optimization in MDMA-assisted therapy for conditions linked to elevated NEM.
UNC Libraries
June 5, 2026
Charlotte Rubin
Opioid use disorder involves dependence, withdrawal, and high relapse risk, but the neuroimmune mechanisms in the amygdala during withdrawal are not well understood. In adult male rats given escalating heroin doses over 10 days followed by 24-hour withdrawal, MDMA or saline was administered. Heroin-treated rats showed significant weight loss during withdrawal, confirming dependence, and MDMA did not worsen this effect. TNF-α immunoreactivity showed no effect of heroin withdrawal or MDMA in the central or basolateral amygdala, though a trend in the basolateral amygdala suggests subtle modulation by combined exposure.
June 4, 2026
Jason B Luoma, M. Kati Lear, Brian Pilecki et al.
preprint
MDMA-Assisted Therapy (MDMA-AT) produced a large reduction in social anxiety symptoms compared to a waitlist condition in adults with social anxiety disorder. In a randomized open-label trial of 20 participants, those receiving MDMA-AT showed an average decrease of 43.3 points on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale after 16 weeks, while the waitlist group did not. Improvements also occurred in functioning, shame, acceptance, belongingness, self-concealment, and self-compassion. Adverse events were mild to moderate and temporary; no serious adverse events occurred. These preliminary findings suggest MDMA-AT is safe and feasible for social anxiety disorder and warrant further research.
Translational Psychiatry
June 4, 2026
Mélusine Humbert‐droz, Anna M. Becker, Jan Valenta et al.
A booster dose of MDMA prolongs the acute subjective drug effects compared with a single dose, without increasing peak effects. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study with 23 healthy volunteers, a 120 mg dose of MDMA followed by a 60 mg booster after 2 hours extended the duration of subjective effects to an average of 5.6 hours, versus 4.6 hours with a single dose. Adverse effects were more common after both MDMA conditions than placebo. Whether the prolonged effect translates into clinical benefit for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy remains unknown.
Drug and alcohol dependence reports
June 1, 2026
Christopher Medina-Kirchner, Scott E Lukas
After weekend ecstasy use, mood on Monday is lower than after non-use weekends. This effect is explained largely by more time spent in bed, which independently predicts lower mood. No differences were found in weekly depression or anxiety scores. The findings suggest that recovery-related behavior, not MDMA alone, may underlie post-use mood declines, though directionality cannot be determined.
Journal of traumatic stress
June 1, 2026
Kadek Suhardita, Veno Dwi Krisnanda, Rikas Saputra et al.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy shows promise for treating PTSD, but the evidence base has major limitations: difficulties in blinding, expectancy effects, lack of active comparators, unclear mechanisms, and safety concerns. The commentary argues these issues are central to interpreting the therapy's effects and future translation. It calls for moving beyond symptom reduction to broader recovery indicators like functioning, quality of life, relational restoration, and long-term durability. Stronger attention to equity, scalability, therapist training, and ethical safeguards is needed, especially for global mental health frameworks. The discussion aims to stimulate deeper debate on evaluating innovation in trauma treatment before widespread clinical adoption.
Mental Health Weekly
June 1, 2026
Valerie A. Canady
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has begun a clinical trial testing MDMA-assisted therapy for severe mental health conditions such as PTSD and alcohol use disorder, according to a May 26 news release. The trial aims to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this treatment approach.