The DOI matches its Crossref record; 99 of the 99 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The prosocial effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): Controlled studies in humans and laboratory animals
Open accessAbstract
Users of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'ecstasy') report prosocial effects such as sociability and empathy. Supporting these apparently unique social effects, data from controlled laboratory studies indicate that MDMA alters social feelings, information processing, and behavior in humans, and social behavior in rodents. Here, we review this growing body of evidence. In rodents, MDMA increases passive prosocial behavior (adjacent lying) and social reward while decreasing aggression, effects that may involve serotonin 1A receptor mediated oxytocin release interacting with vasopressin receptor 1A. In humans, MDMA increases plasma oxytocin and produces feelings of social affiliation. It decreases identification of negative facial expressions (cognitive empathy) and blunts responses to social rejection, while enhancing responses to others' positive emotions (emotional empathy) and increasing social approach. Thus, consistent with drug folklore, laboratory administration of MDMA robustly alters social processing in humans and increases social approach in humans and animals. Effects are consistent with increased sociability, with mixed evidence about enhanced empathy. These neurobiologically-complex prosocial effects likely motivate recreational ecstasy use.
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“Additionally, by dampening reactivity to negative emotional stimuli, MDMA may support more constructive engagement with distressing relational patterns (153).”
From Psychoanalytically informed MDMA-assisted therapy for pathological narcissism: a novel theoretical approach (2025) · cites this paper as [153]
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“Acutely, MDMA has been described as a prototypical entactogen and is recreationally used for its prosocial effects (20).”
From Modulation of Social Cognition via Hallucinogens and “Entactogens” (2019) · cites this paper as [20]
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“Three studies investigated the effects of MDMA on emotion recognition from pictures of the eye region using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), which was designed to assesssocial cognition in individuals with autism(Baron-Cohen et al., 2001).”
Baron‐Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S. J., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001) · PubMed · Cited by 4,313
Neurobiology of emotion perception II: implications for major psychiatric disorders
Phillips, M. L., Drevets, W. C., Rauch, S. L., & Lane, R. (2003) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00171-9 · Cited by 1,736
Oxytocin Modulates Neural Circuitry for Social Cognition and Fear in Humans
Kirsch, P., Esslinger, C., Chen, Q., Mier, D., Lis, S., Siddhanti, S., Gruppe, H., Mattay, V. S., Gallhofer, B., & Meyer-Lindenberg, A. (2005) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3984-05.2005 · Cited by 1,639
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Ekman, P. (2003) · Cited by 1,599
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“Oxytocin is thought toregulatenumeroussocial behaviors in humans and animals(Bartz et al., 2011b; Baumgartner et al., 2008; Bos et al., 2012; Dumont et al., 2009; Kirkpatrick et al., 2014a; Lee et al., 2009).”
Blair, R. J. R. (2005) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2005.06.004 · Cited by 1,365 · cited 2×
“…is dependent on both the capacity to decode others’ emotional and mental states from facial, verbal, and behavioral cues (cognitive empathy), and the spontaneous experience of emotional responses that are consistent with the affective states expressed by others(emotional empathy; Blair, 2005).”
Oxytocin shapes the neural circuitry of trust and trust adaptation in humans
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REBUS and the anarchic brain: Toward a unified model of the brain action of psychedelics
Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Friston, K. J. (2019) · Pharmacological Reviews · doi:10.1124/pr.118.017160 · Cited by 1,180
Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
Reiff, C. M., Richman, E. E., Nemeroff, C. B., Carpenter, L. L., Widge, A. S., Rodriguez, C. I., Kalin, N. H., McDonald, W. M., & and the Work Group on Biomarkers and Novel Treatments, A. D. O. T. A. P. A. C. O. R. (2020) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19010035 · Cited by 649
MDMA-assisted therapy for moderate to severe PTSD: A randomized, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial
Mitchell, J. M., Ot’alora G., M., van der Kolk, B., Shannon, S., Bogenschutz, M., Gelfand, Y., Paleos, C., Nicholas, C. R., Quevedo, S., Balliett, B., et al. (2023) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-023-02565-4 · Cited by 455
Social brain, social dysfunction and social withdrawal
Porcelli, S., van der Wee, N. J. A., van der Werff, S. J., Aghajani, M., Glennon, J. C., van Heukelum, S., Mogavero, F., Lobo, A., Olivera, F. J. N., Lobo, E., et al. (2018) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.09.012 · Cited by 425
Danforth, A. L., Grob, C. S., Struble, C., Feduccia, A. A., Walker, N., Jerome, L., Yazar-Klosinski, B., & Emerson, A. (2018) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-018-5010-9 · Cited by 280
Metadata
- Authors
- Kamilar-Britt, P., & Bedi, G.
- Affiliations
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bedi, Gillinder
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-10
- Volume
- 57
- Pages
- 433-446
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4678620
- OpenAlex
- W1810864195
- Cited by
- 163
- References
- 99
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 1.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIDA (DA029679, DA034877)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- MDMA, ecstasy, prosocial behavior, sociability, empathy, social affiliation, oxytocin, vasopressin, 5-HT1A receptor, social reward, aggression, social rejection, facial expression recognition, social approach, rodents
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Social Behavior, N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine
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