New research has found that people under the influence of the drug commonly referred to as ecstasy or molly — known scientifically as methylenedioxymethamphetamine — see others as more trustworthy and are more generous with their money.
The pro-social feelings elicited by MDMA are well documented, but University College London researcher LH Stewart and his colleagues wanted to examine whether the heightened sense of friendliness, closeness, openness and understanding towards others translated into actual behavior — not just emotions.
They found that it did.
The study of 17 ecstasy users and 22 control participants found that people under the influence of MDMA rated 66 emotionally neutral faces as significantly more trustworthy compared to those not under the influence of the drug.
Those under the influence of the MDMA also choose to give more money another person while playing a dictator game and an ultimatum game. In the dictator game, a participant was told they had won £10 and were asked to share a reward — from nothing to all £10 — with another participant who must accept whatever was offered. The ultimatum game was similar, except that the recipient had to accept the amount of money the participant offered or neither of them would receive a reward.
“This increase in the share of money allocated to another was the case even though that individual was unknown,” Stewart and his colleagues noted in their study.
The researchers said their findings had implications regarding the use of MDMA as a tool for psychotherapy.
“Clearly our findings from a naturalistic study of recreational ecstasy users who have no psychiatric diagnosis cannot speak directly to the clinical situation where controlled amounts of the drug are given conjointly with repeated psychological therapy sessions to patients with anxiety disorders,” they wrote. “Clinically, perceived trust in another person and co-operative behaviours between people are vitally important in establishing a therapeutic alliance in psychological treatments. Our finding of increased perceived trustworthiness and co-operative behaviours following acute use of ecstasy would add to evidence from controlled studies with healthy volunteers that a single dose of the drug enhances empathy and prosocial behaviour.”
“Indeed, increased trust and co-operation may be key psychological mechanisms which contribute to beneficial effects of a drug like MDMA in therapy,” the researchers concluded. “Our findings of increased perceived trustworthiness of faces and increased co-operative behaviours following recreational ecstasy use also add to our understanding of the social effects of drug use and their implications for public health.”
The study was published online August 13 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.