Addiction
July 1, 1997
Valerie H. Curran, Ross A. Travill
283 citations
Recreational use of MDMA (ecstasy) leads to elevated mood on the day of use but a significant low mood five days later, with some users scoring within the range for clinical depression. Compared to alcohol users, who showed a U-shaped mood curve with the lowest point the day after drinking, MDMA users also had significant impairments on an attentional and working memory task. The findings suggest that weekend MDMA use may cause mid-week depressed mood, possibly due to temporary serotonin depletion, serotonergic neurotoxicity, or psychological factors.
Psychopharmacology
April 1, 2002
Suzanne L. Verheyden, J. A. Hadfield, Tara Calin et al.
118 citations
Recreational users of MDMA ('ecstasy') show sex-dependent mood changes days after taking the drug. Women who used MDMA reported higher depression scores four days later compared to male users and non-using controls, and their mid-week depression correlated with the amount of MDMA taken. Both men and women reported lower aggression on the night of use but significantly higher aggression mid-week; in men, the increase in aggression correlated with the weekend dose. No association was found between mood and long-term use patterns. The findings suggest that central serotonin function may be temporarily reduced after acute MDMA use, with women more susceptible to mid-week low mood and both sexes showing increased aggression.
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 17, 2013
Robin Carhart‐Harris, Matthew B. Wall, David Erritzøe et al.
110 citations
MDMA (ecstasy) makes recalling favorite autobiographical memories feel more vivid, emotionally intense, and positive, while making recall of worst memories feel less negative. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled fMRI study with 19 participants who had prior MDMA experience, 100 mg of MDMA altered brain activity during memory recall: it increased activation in the fusiform gyrus and somatosensory cortex for favorite memories and decreased activation in the left anterior temporal cortex for worst memories. These neural changes suggest MDMA creates a positive emotional bias, which may explain why it helps patients revisit traumatic memories during psychotherapy for PTSD.
The British Journal of Psychiatry
March 31, 2009
Sudhakar Selvaraj, Rosa Hoshi, Zubin Bhagwagar et al.
59 citations
Former MDMA users show no significant difference in serotonin transporter binding compared to non-users, suggesting that recreational MDMA use may not cause long-term damage to serotonin neurons in humans. The study measured serotonin transporter binding with PET imaging in 12 former MDMA users, 9 polydrug users who never took MDMA, and 19 controls with no illicit drug history. No differences in binding potential were found across any brain regions examined. These results challenge concerns from animal studies that MDMA use leads to persistent serotonin neurotoxicity in humans.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
January 19, 2023
Koen Ponnet, Bert Hauspie, Nicky Dirkx et al.
21 citations
Attendees of electronic dance music events are a high-risk group for substance use. A survey of 1345 Belgian attendees found that ecstasy/MDMA/Molly (52.28%), other synthetic hallucinogens (53.68%), ketamine (42.13%), amphetamines (40.45%), and alkyl nitrites (32.76%) were most used at festivals, outdoor parties, and raves. Cocaine was prevalent in nightclubs (32.29%), while cannabis (68.88%) and magic mushrooms (66.44%) were most used at private events. Overall enjoyment was the key motive for attendance, followed by music and socialization. Users rated many motives (dance, exploration, escapism, excitement, alcohol, drugs) as more important than non-users. Substance use prevalence depended on the event setting, and a three-dimensional classification of attendance motives was supported.