Expectancy Effects Cannot Be Neglected in MDMA-Assisted Therapy Research.

Expectancy effects—what participants believe will happen—pose a serious challenge to interpreting results from MDMA-assisted therapy trials. The authors argue that these effects cannot be dismissed as mere noise; they may account for a substantial portion of the therapeutic outcomes attributed to MDMA itself. Because blinding is difficult in psychedelic research, participants who expect improvement may report better outcomes regardless of the drug's pharmacological action. The paper calls for methodological innovations, such as active placebos and expectancy measures, to disentangle drug effects from belief-driven effects. Without addressing expectancy, the field risks overstating MDMA's specific efficacy.

Study at a glance

Abstract

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ARTICLES ASAPPREVViewpointNEXTExpectancy Effects Cannot Be Neglected in MDMA-Assisted Therapy ResearchL. Jacob FlamelingL. Jacob FlamelingInstitute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden 2333 AK, The NetherlandsMore by L. Jacob Flamelinghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1425-1180, Jacob S. AdayJacob S. AdayDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United StatesMore by Jacob S. Aday, and Michiel van Elk*Michiel van ElkInstitute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden 2333 AK, The Netherlands*Email: [email protected]More by Michiel van Elkhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7631-3551Cite this: ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2023, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXXPublication Date (Web):November 15, 2023Publication History Received26 October 2023Accepted3 November 2023Published online15 November 2023https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.3c00692© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0. License Summary*You are free to share (copy and redistribute) this article in any medium or format and to adapt (remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially within the parameters below:Creative Commons (CC): This is a Creative Commons license.Attribution (BY): Credit must be given to the creator.View full license*DisclaimerThis summary highlights only some of the key features and terms of the actual license. It is not a license and has no legal value. Carefully review the actual license before using these materials. This publication is Open Access under the license indicated. Learn MoreArticle Views-Altmetric-Citations-LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (736 KB) Get e-Alertsclose Get e-Alerts