RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Effects of MDMA on socioemotional feelings, authenticity, and autobiographical disclosure in healthy volunteers in a controlled setting
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 021329
DO 10.1101/021329
A1 Matthew J. Baggott
A1 Jeremy R. Coyle
A1 Jennifer D. Siegrist
A1 Kathleen Garrison
A1 Gantt Galloway
A1 John E. Mendelson
YR 2015
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/06/29/021329.abstract
AB The drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”, “molly”) is a widely used illicit drug and experimental adjunct to psychotherapy. MDMA has unusual, poorly understood socioemotional effects, including feelings of interpersonal closeness and sociability. To better understand these effects, we conducted a within-subjects double-blind placebo controlled study of the effects of 1.5 mg/kg oral MDMA on social emotions and autobiographical disclosure in a controlled setting. MDMA displayed both sedative- and stimulant-like effects, including increased self-report anxiety. At the same time, MDMA positively altered evaluation of the self (i.e., increasing feelings of authenticity) while decreasing concerns about negative evaluation by others (i.e., decreasing social anxiety). Consistent with these feelings, MDMA increased how comfortable participants felt describing emotional memories. Overall, MDMA produced a prosocial syndrome that seemed to facilitate emotional disclosure and that appears consistent with the suggestion that it represents a novel pharmacological class.