PMID- 30717615
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20200527
LR  - 20200527
IS  - 1461-7285 (Electronic)
IS  - 0269-8811 (Linking)
VI  - 33
IP  - 3
DP  - 2019 Mar
TI  - Greater empathy in MDMA users.
PG  - 295-304
LID - 10.1177/0269881119826594 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is widely known for its 
      positive acute effects on social behaviour, such as increasing empathy, whilst 
      also attenuating the negative impact of social exclusion. However there is a 
      scarcity of research that investigates the long-term impact of recreational MDMA 
      use on these fundamental social processes. METHOD: Sixty-seven individuals were 
      split into three groups based on their drug-use history: poly-drug MDMA users ( 
      n = 25), poly-drug users who do not use MDMA ( n = 19), alcohol-only users ( 
      n = 23), and were tested in an independent groups design. Participants completed 
      both a self-report measure of emotional and cognitive empathy, along with the 
      Multifaceted Empathy Task - a computerised assessment of empathy - and the 
      Cyberball Game - a social exclusion paradigm. RESULTS: MDMA users had 
      significantly greater subjective emotional empathy, and greater cognitive empathy 
      on the computer task compared with the poly-drug users who do not use MDMA. There 
      were no significant differences in subjective responses to social exclusion 
      between the groups. Indices of MDMA use did not correlate with empathy. 
      CONCLUSIONS: Long-term MDMA users in this sample exhibited normal psychosocial 
      functioning in regard to empathy and social pain and had higher subjective 
      emotional empathy. This conflicts with previous suggestions that moderate, 
      long-term MDMA use may cause heightened social distress, and is further evidence 
      of the safety of the drug, which is relevant to considerations of its therapeutic 
      use.
FAU - Carlyle, Molly
AU  - Carlyle M
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8083-814X
AD  - 1 Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), University of Exeter, 
      Exeter, UK.
FAU - Stevens, Tobias
AU  - Stevens T
AD  - 1 Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), University of Exeter, 
      Exeter, UK.
FAU - Fawaz, Leah
AU  - Fawaz L
AD  - 1 Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), University of Exeter, 
      Exeter, UK.
FAU - Marsh, Beth
AU  - Marsh B
AD  - 1 Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), University of Exeter, 
      Exeter, UK.
AD  - 2 Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
FAU - Kosmider, Sophia
AU  - Kosmider S
AD  - 1 Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), University of Exeter, 
      Exeter, UK.
FAU - Morgan, Celia Ja
AU  - Morgan CJ
AD  - 1 Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), University of Exeter, 
      Exeter, UK.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20190205
PL  - United States
TA  - J Psychopharmacol
JT  - Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
JID - 8907828
RN  - 0 (Hallucinogens)
RN  - KE1SEN21RM (N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Empathy/*drug effects
MH  - Female
MH  - Hallucinogens/administration & dosage/*pharmacology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine/administration & dosage/*pharmacology
MH  - Self Report
MH  - *Social Behavior
MH  - Time Factors
MH  - Young Adult
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - MDMA
OT  - ecstasy
OT  - empathy
OT  - social cognition
OT  - social pain
EDAT- 2019/02/06 06:00
MHDA- 2020/05/28 06:00
CRDT- 2019/02/06 06:00
PHST- 2019/02/06 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2020/05/28 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2019/02/06 06:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1177/0269881119826594 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Psychopharmacol. 2019 Mar;33(3):295-304. doi: 10.1177/0269881119826594. Epub 
      2019 Feb 5.