A recent study explores the medicinal role 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) may have in helping individuals unable to socially connect with others.

MDMA is an entactogenic drug (it produces distinctive emotional and social effects) of the phenethylamine andamphetamine class (a natural monoamine alkaloid, trace amine, and psychoactive drug with stimulant effects). According to the study:

“The drug MDMA increased ’empathogenic’ feelings but reduced accurate identification of threat-related facial emotional signals in others, findings consistent with increased social approach behavior rather than empathy. This effect of MDMA on social cognition has implications for both recreational and therapeutic use. In recreational users, acute drug effects might alter social risk-taking while intoxicated. Socioemotional processing alterations such as those documented here might underlie possible psychotherapeutic benefits of this drug; further investigation of such mechanisms could inform treatment design to maximize active components of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.”

Using a small group of healthy individuals, the study found that MDMA prompted heightened feelings of friendliness, playfulness and love, and induced a lowering of the guard that might have therapeutic application for improving social connectivity.

However, this connection induced by MDMA may not necessarily be deep or long lasting.

According to study author Gillinder Bedi, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City, these findings “suggest that MDMA enhances sociability, but does not necessarily increase empathy.”

The study, funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse and conducted at the Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory at the University of Chicago, was published in the December 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry. The study explored the effects of MDMA on 21 healthy volunteers (9 women and 12 men between the ages of 18 to 38). All subjects claimed to have taken MDMA for recreational purposes at least twice before. The subjects were randomly assigned to take either a low or moderate dose of MDMA, methamphetamine, or a sugar pill during four sessions over a three-week period.

A moderate dose of MDMA was found to significantly increase feelings of loving, friendliness and playfulness, the researchers said, whereas the lower dose of MDMA boosted feelings of loneliness. Additionally, the moderate dose reduced the subject’s ability to accurately recognize fear in other people’s faces. The researchers also suggested that MDMA might help people with PTSD as well those with autism, schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder cope with a variety of emotional difficulties.

According to Bedi: “More controlled research is needed to establish whether MDMA can safely and effectively add to psychotherapy for some conditions and, if so, what the mechanisms of these effects are.”

Dr. Michael Mithoefer, author of an earlier study on MDMA and PTSD, separately stated: “First, I think it’s very important that we investigate potential new therapies, and that we shouldn’t be dissuaded from doing that just because something can be misused. Many things can be life-threatening or dangerous if used incorrectly. But if used in the right setting wisely, many things can also be helpful. So there’s no question we should be looking into how this might benefit people who are suffering.”

The researchers warned that MDMA may facilitate socializing, but it could also impair a person’s perceptive abilities and thus prompt risk-taking. [audio:http://hospitalstay.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02-White-NIghts-Psychic-TV-Cover.mp3|titles=White NIghts (Psychic TV Cover)]

Additional source: Medicine.Net