Rapid Effects of MDMA Administration on Self-Reported Personality Traits and Affect State: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial in Healthy Adults.
Jessica L Maples-Keller, Courtland S Hyatt, Nathaniel L Phillips, Brinkley M Sharpe, Andrew Sherrill, Carly Yasinski, Collin Reiff, Jeffrey Rakofsky, Sheila A M Rauch, Boadie W Dunlop, Barbara O Rothbaum
Journal of psychoactive drugs October 23, 2024 DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2024.2420044 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 34 healthy adults examined whether a single dose of MDMA alters five-factor model personality traits and affective states 48 hours later. No statistically significant changes were observed for the four pre-registered hypotheses, but medium effect sizes emerged: trait Openness increased (d = .79) and Positive Affect increased (d = .51) compared to placebo. These preliminary findings suggest MDMA may produce short-term shifts in openness and positive mood, warranting larger, longer-term studies to clarify how such changes might inform MDMA-assisted therapy.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Placebo-controlled Cross-sectional Preregistered Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 34 |
| Population | Healthy adults |
| Intervention | MDMA |
| Duration | 48 hours after drug administration |
| Topics | MDMA |
| Keywords | Affect Clinical trial Psychedelic research Clinical psychology Personality traits |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key finding | MDMA administration did not produce statistically significant changes in the four a priori hypotheses, but medium effect sizes were observed for increased trait Openness and Positive Affect 48 hours later compared to placebo. |
Abstract
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) assisted therapy has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment for PTSD and emerging research suggests a change in personality traits may be a factor in treatment response. Most prior research on MDMA and personality has focused on cross-sectional comparisons of MDMA users and non-users; as such, well-controlled research assessing personality and affective states change following MDMA vs placebo administration is needed. In the current pre-registered study, we investigated the impact of MDMA administration on five-factor model (FFM) traits and affective states before and 48 h after drug administration in a randomized, placebo-controlled study of healthy adults (N = 34). Statistical significance was not observed for the four a priori hypotheses; however, medium effect sizes were found between MDMA administration and trait Openness and Positive Affect 48 h following drug administration, compared to placebo (d = .79 and .51, respectively). This study provides initial results to help guide future well-powered studies with large samples and longer follow-up timepoints to continue to investigate how MDMA impacts personality and emotional experience, which may inform optimization of MDMA treatment approaches.