#mdma — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: August 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
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TITLE: New study tracks oxytocin spikes in MDMA therapy trials

URL: https://www.psypost.org/meta-analysis-confirms-mdma-triggers-sustained-oxytocin-release/

The psychoactive drug MDMA temporarily increases levels of the social hormone oxytocin in human subjects, with levels peaking a few hours after use. These findings might help researchers time therapeutic interventions during clinical trials for psychiatric conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. The research was published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

The drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as MDMA, is classified as an entactogen. This designates it as a psychoactive substance that heavily alters emotional processing. People who take the substance often report enhanced feelings of closeness, empathy, and social unity.

In recent years, MDMA has become the subject of clinical trials for treating post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly called PTSD. Therapists suggest that the drug helps patients build an emotional bond with their doctors. It reduces anxiety related to social interactions and helps people process perceived emotional threats.

Researchers suspect a primary biological mechanism behind these prosocial effects is the release of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a chemical messenger produced in the hypothalamus, a region deep within the brain. It acts as both a local brain signaling molecule and a hormone that circulates throughout the body.

The hormone is best known for its role in childbirth and lactation, but it also regulates social behaviors. Elevated levels of oxytocin are linked to increased empathy, generosity, and trust, particularly among people within the same social group.

MDMA initiates its effects by causing the brain to release a flood of monoamines. These are chemical messengers that include serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

The sudden surge of serotonin activates specific receptors on neurons in the hypothalamus. Animal models demonstrate that this receptor activation directly triggers the release of oxytocin into the bloodstream and central nervous system.

Medical professionals have tried administering oxytocin directly via nasal sprays to treat social anxiety and similar conditions. However, the nasal spray has a very short active period in the bloodstream, disappearing in just a few minutes.

MDMA, by contrast, has a much longer active window. It promotes a robust release of the body’s own naturally produced oxytocin. This creates a sustained social effect that is better suited for long psychotherapy sessions.

While individual studies have shown that MDMA triggers the release of oxytocin, results have varied widely. Lead author Anna Vaslavski, a researcher at Bar-Ilan University, and her colleagues noticed a gap in the literature. No previous research had systematically gathered and analyzed these disparate studies to figure out exactly how the drug influences oxytocin levels across different times, doses, and demographic groups.

To find answers, the research team conducted a meta-analysis. This is a statistical technique that pools data from multiple independent studies to identify overall trends. The team searched academic databases to find peer-reviewed studies that administered MDMA to human subjects and measured their oxytocin levels.

They identified ten qualifying studies containing a total of 39 effect size estimates. The original studies used varying doses of MDMA, ranging from 75 to 150 milligrams. The researchers also measured oxytocin from blood or urine samples at different time intervals.

The team analyzed this pooled data, looking specifically at three modifying variables. They tested whether the amount of the drug, the time of measurement, or the sex of the participants altered the amount of oxytocin released.

Time emerged as a modifying factor, showing a curvilinear relationship with hormone levels. After a person took MDMA, their oxytocin levels rose steadily. The levels reached their highest point between 150 and 200 minutes after administration.

Following this peak, oxytocin concentrations began to decline. Some studies noted that levels remained slightly elevated above their baseline even five hours after the drug was taken.

The analysis did not find a statistically significant relationship between the dose of MDMA and the resulting oxytocin levels. The varied dosing strategies used in the original ten studies might explain this lack of an effect. Some studies gave all participants a flat dose, while others adjusted the amount based on a person’s body weight.

The team also found a slight trend regarding the sex of the participants. The results suggested that studies with a higher proportion of female subjects tended to record smaller increases in oxytocin. However, this finding was not statistically significant and requires more targeted testing to confirm.

Readers should exercise caution when interpreting blood or urine oxytocin levels as a direct reflection of brain activity. Oxytocin in the bloodstream does not easily cross the blood-brain barrier, meaning peripheral levels might not perfectly mirror the amounts acting directly on brain circuits.

Still, recent physiological studies suggest that circulating oxytocin can influence the brain indirectly. The hormone can stimulate the vagus nerve, a major neural pathway connecting the body’s internal organs to the brainstem. This vagal pathway might carry the social and emotional signals generated by peripheral oxytocin into the central nervous system.

The meta-analysis also revealed a high degree of unexplained variance among the ten studies. The statistical models showed that differences in time, dose, and sex only accounted for about a quarter of the variation in the results. This indicates that other unmeasured biological factors are influencing how much oxytocin the body releases in response to MDMA.

The potential difference in how males and females respond to the drug might be tied to estrogen. Estrogen is known to regulate how sensitive cells are to oxytocin.

Because the analysis relied on existing published data, the research team could not isolate female-only groups or control for the use of hormonal birth control. These missing details leave the exact nature of the sex difference an open question. Differences in body mass index or the menstrual cycle could potentially alter how a person reacts to the drug.

Methodological differences in how the original researchers processed their biological samples might also have skewed the overall numbers. Oxytocin levels can appear vastly different depending on whether researchers use advanced extraction techniques to isolate the hormone from blood plasma.

Moving forward, scientists need to standardize how they administer MDMA and measure oxytocin. Implementing consistent dosing based on body weight and utilizing uniform extraction methods will yield more reliable data.

The researchers also noted evidence of publication bias in the available literature. Small studies with larger margins of error tended to report disproportionately high oxytocin effects. Conducting studies with a large sample size will help correct this imbalance and verify the true strength of the drug’s impact on the hormonal system.

The study, “The effect of MDMA administration on oxytocin concentration levels: systematic review and a multilevel meta-analysis in humans,” was authored by Anna Vaslavski, Anna Harwood-Gross, Salomon Israel, and Leehe Peled-Avron.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/meta-analysis-confirms-mdma-triggers-sustained-oxytocin-release/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MDMA #Oxytocin #PTSDtherapy #Neuroscience #MentalHealthResearch #SocialChemistry #PsychedelicTherapy #OxytocinPeak #ClinicalTrials #MetaAnalysis

Übrigens: MDMA die Kurzbezeichnung für den Wirkstoff Methylendioxymethylamphetamin.

Ihr habt, vor allem wenn ihr es häufig nehmt, eine hohe Gefahr, von MDMA abhängig zu werden. Es gibt zwar keine körperlichen Entzugserscheinungen - aber psychisch sorgt die Droge dafür, dass ihr immer mehr Highs & Glücksgefühle haben wollt, für die ihr dann aber immer stärkere Dosierungen braucht. [Q2, 10]

Langfristig kann MDMA außerdem zu Veränderungen eurer Gehirnfunktionen & eures Gedächtnisses führen. [Q3]

Wenn ihr das Gefühl habt, dass ihr oder jemand in eurem Umfeld Probleme mit Drogen hat, könnt ihr euch an die Digitale Suchtberatung (DigiSucht) wenden. Dort wird euch über einen anonymen Online-Chat geholfen. [Q12]

Quellen:
[1] European Union Drugs Agency: MDMA – die aktuelle Situation in Europa (Europäischer Drogenbericht 2026)
[2] NDR: Ecstasy: Was man über die Droge und ihre Gefahren wissen muss
[3] Infodrog: Ecstasy | MDMA - infodrog - Schweizerische Koordinations- und Fachstelle Sucht
[4] Drugcom: drugcom.de: Drogenlexikon
[5] Sidekicks: MDMA/Ecstasy
[6] Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen e.V.: Ecstasy
[7] European Union Drugs Agency: MDMA ('Ecstasy'): Drogenprofil
[8] Drugcom: Ecstasy kann langfristig Depressionen und Schlafstörungen nach sich ziehen
[9] Sidekicks Berlin: MDMA/Ecstasy
[10] Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen e.V: Ecstasy - Risiken
[11] European Union Drugs Agency: MDMA – die aktuelle Situation in Europa (Europäischer Drogenbericht 2025)
[12] Suchtberatung: DigiSucht

Bilder:
Drogen: Canva
Emojis: Emojipedia / KI (nicht selbst generiert)

#MDMA #Drogenaufklärung #HarmReduction #SaferUse #Gesundheitswissen

Flying too high : This #pilot was trying to smuggle large quantities of #MDMA pills into #Indonesia from #Malaysia - he's now in big trouble with both countries working together on the investigation.

He may still face #DeathPenalty depending how the case goes in Court ( Indonesia retains it for #drugs offences - it is now less common in #Malaysia )

He is also accused of being under the influence whilst flying the #aircraft !

#smuggling #crime #TootSEA

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c9d8662gyx5o

DATE: July 30, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
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TITLE: Neuroscientists just upended a core assumption about how psychedelics alter brain function

URL: https://www.psypost.org/neuroscientists-just-upended-a-core-assumption-about-how-psychedelics-alter-brain-function/

Recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that psychedelic substances change how brain activity travels across the surface of the brain. The study provides evidence that drugs like LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA reliably reduce the flow of information traveling up into a core brain network associated with self-reflection. These findings offer a new biological explanation for both the therapeutic potential and the psychological risks of using psychedelics to treat mental health conditions.

The default mode network is a collection of interconnected brain regions that are highly active when a person is resting and thinking about themselves. Scientists link this network to introspection, daydreaming, and maintaining a rigid sense of self. In many mental health disorders, such as depression or schizophrenia, the default mode network tends to function abnormally. Because of this connection, researchers want to know exactly how potential psychiatric treatments impact this specific network.

“Psychedelic use is growing faster than our understanding of how these drugs impact the brain, particularly at the level of large-scale brain networks,” said Adam Pines, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, who led the study alongside the study’s senior author, Leanne M. Williams. “Clinically, these unresolved questions limit our ability to know which patients are likely to benefit from psychedelic treatments, and which are at risk of harm.”

Previous studies usually measured brain activity as if it were fixed in place. They looked at average activity in stationary regions over time instead of tracking how signals physically move across the brain tissue.

Brain activity constantly travels in specific directions, either from lower-level sensory areas up to higher-level thinking areas, or vice versa. The upward movement is called bottom-up processing, which involves reacting to basic sensory input. The downward movement is known as top-down processing, where the brain applies past experiences and expectations to interpret incoming information.

“Existing theories on how psychedelics work tend to disagree on a core point: whether psychedelics increase or decrease ‘bottom-up’ brain activity (activity moving from lower-order to higher-order brain areas),” Pines said. “From our perspective, this core premise had not been systematically tested.”

To test this premise, the researchers adapted an analytical method called optical flow. This technique is typically used in computer vision to track the movement of physical objects across video frames. By applying this technique to brain scans, the researchers could evaluate the directional flow of brain activity frame by frame, capturing the exact movement of signals across the cortical surface.

The researchers combined data from four independent studies to test how different psychedelics impact brain activity flow. “Drawing conclusive evidence from psychedelic studies is notoriously difficult,” Pines said. “We tried to establish our results beyond reasonable doubt by replicating our findings across nine different case-control comparisons, involving four datasets and two completely different neuroimaging technologies.”

The first three studies involved human participants who received a specific drug and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. This type of brain scan, often called fMRI, measures changes in blood flow to detect active brain areas. Before running their optical flow analysis, the authors masked out segments of data interrupted by head motion to ensure their measurements were highly accurate.

In the first study, fourteen healthy adult participants received either a placebo, eighty milligrams of MDMA, or one hundred and twenty milligrams of MDMA. MDMA is a synthetic substance that alters mood and perception. Participants completed multiple scanning sessions across different days, allowing researchers to compare their brain activity with and without the active drug.

The second study evaluated the effects of psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms. Six healthy participants underwent numerous fMRI scans. During some sessions, they received twenty-five milligrams of psilocybin. On other days, they received either no drug or an active placebo called methylphenidate, a stimulant medication that mimics the physical arousal caused by psilocybin.

The third study focused on LSD, a powerful chemical that alters perception and thought. Eighteen healthy participants received an intravenous infusion of either LSD or a saline placebo. Following a short acclimatization period, they completed about one hour of fMRI scanning to capture their brain activity under the influence of the substance.

The fourth study involved an entirely different species and measurement technique. Fourteen mice were administered LSD, a sedative called diazepam, or another sedative called dexmedetomidine. Instead of using fMRI, the scientists measured the mouse brain activity using widefield calcium imaging. This technique uses fluorescent markers to directly observe the electrical activity of neurons across the brain surface, providing a different perspective on brain function.

Across all four datasets, the authors looked at two main features of brain signals moving within the default mode network. First, they calculated the magnitude, which is the total volume and strength of the traveling brain waves. Second, they measured directionality, specifically looking at the proportion of signals traveling in a bottom-up direction from sensory regions into the default mode network.

The researchers found that all the tested psychedelics significantly reduced the overall magnitude of cortical activity propagations in the default mode network. In the first study, MDMA lowered the strength of these traveling signals compared to both placebo and baseline scans. The exact same pattern appeared in the second study for psilocybin and the third study for LSD.

When observing the mice in the fourth study, the authors noticed a similar reduction in signal magnitude after administering LSD. The active sedatives given to the mice produced the opposite effect, increasing the magnitude of brain signal movement. This suggests that the reduction in traveling waves is a specific feature of psychedelics rather than a general effect of taking any psychoactive drug.

In addition to shrinking the magnitude of these signals, psychedelics altered the direction of their travel. The human studies showed that MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD all reduced the percentage of signals moving in a bottom-up direction. Instead of information flowing freely from sensory areas up into the default mode network, the overall balance of activity shifted away from bottom-up processing.

The mouse study replicated this directional shift, as LSD significantly decreased bottom-up propagations in the mouse brains. Interestingly, the psilocybin study showed that this attenuation of bottom-up directionality persisted for days after the initial dosage. Scans taken within two days of the psilocybin sessions still exhibited proportionately fewer bottom-up propagations.

The scientists also checked whether these movement changes were linked to the subjective psychological effects of the drugs. In the human studies, participants filled out comprehensive questionnaires about their experiences. The scientists found that greater reductions in bottom-up signaling correlated with more intense negative feelings, such as the dread of losing one’s sense of self and feelings of impaired control.

The results went against the original expectations of the research team. “How psychedelics impact large-scale brain function is not settled science,” Pines told PsyPost. “Our study challenges one of the field’s core assumptions. Many researchers, myself included, expected psychedelics to increase ‘bottom-up’ activity.”

Pines noted that the actual data told a different story. “Instead, we found the opposite,” Pines said. “However, like any study, there are caveats and limitations that come along with this new evidence.”

One prospective issue is the way the researchers interpreted the data at a broad level. “In our human data, we described a group-level effect rather than something that occurs 100% of the time for every individual every time they ingest psychedelics,” Pines said. “This is a standard practice for human neuroimaging studies, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the impact of psychedelics on individual people can be quite variable.”

The concept of bottom-up processing also comes with its own complexities. “Scientists still don’t fully understand what we call bottom-up activity, or the different ways it can occur,” Pines said. “Analytically, we only measured bottom-up activity in one way rather than comprehensively resolving all possible bottom-up activity in the brain.”

The researchers acknowledge that they had to narrow their focus to run the optical flow analyses. “While we had to be reductionistic to evaluate our questions of interest, there are undoubtedly more nuanced aspects of bottom-up and top-down activity that are yet to be discovered in psychedelic research and neuroscience broadly,” Pines said.

These brain wave changes might explain why psychedelics have specific therapeutic effects. For instance, ruminative depression involves excessive, automatic negative thoughts, which researchers link to an overabundance of bottom-up cortical propagations. By reducing these bottom-up signals, psychedelics might interrupt the automatic negative thought loops associated with depression.

A reduction in bottom-up processing could also pose risks for certain vulnerable populations. People at risk for psychosis already experience impaired bottom-up processing, often relying too heavily on top-down expectations, which can lead to hallucinations. Taking a psychedelic might exacerbate this existing imbalance, providing a biological explanation for why these drugs can trigger psychotic episodes in susceptible individuals.

The researchers plan to expand this analytical approach beyond psychedelics to other chemical compounds. “Our lack of understanding of large-scale brain function is not unique to psychedelic drugs,” Pines said. “Although decades of thorough research have revealed a lot about how alcohol, nicotine, and neurologically-active pharmaceuticals operate on individual neurons, our knowledge of how they impact large-scale brain function is quite limited.”

Applying this knowledge could eventually help doctors provide more personalized medical care. “If we can clarify the impacts of neurologically-active substances broadly, we can better anticipate the effects of any given therapeutic drug on individual psychiatric patients and tailor prescriptions accordingly,” Pines said. “This gives us more confidence in our findings, but doesn’t mean that the question is closed. Further study is still needed.”

The study, “Psychedelics disrupt hierarchical cortical propagations in the default mode network of humans and mice,” was authored by Adam R. Pines, Xue Zhang, John Kochalka, Sam S. Vesuna, Isaac V. Kauvar, Divya Rajasekharan, T. Rick Reneau, Teddy J. Akiki, Laura M. Hack, Joshua S. Siegel, and Leanne M. Williams.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/neuroscientists-just-upended-a-core-assumption-about-how-psychedelics-alter-brain-function/

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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PsychedelicsBrainScience #DefaultModeNetwork #BottomUpProcessing #PsychedelicsAndMentalHealth #MDMA #Psilocybin #LSD #NeuroscienceResearch #BrainConnectivity #OpticalFlowNeuroimaging

Eli Lilly to acquire psychedelics drugmaker for $2.8B

Eli Lilly announced on Thursday that it's buying psychedelic drugmaker AtaiBeckley for $2.8 billion, expanding into experimental treatments for severe mental illness prioritized by a recent White House executive order. AtaiBeckley is developing a series of drugs based on the hallucinogen DMT, as well as on MDMA, which is more commonly known as ecstasy.

#psychedelics #hallucinogens #MDMA #DMT #news #business #EliLilly

Lees tip -> Kabinet scherpt drugsbeleid aan: focus op ketamine en MDMA-onderzoek | Er komt een internationaal overleg over de status van ketamine in de Opiumwet. Daarnaast start een jaarlijks landelijk rioolwateronderzoek om lokaal drugsgebruik te monitoren. | #Opiumwet #preventie #drugsbeleid #volksgezondheid #MDMA #ketamine #rioolwateronderzoek |

https://hbpmedia.nl/kabinet-scherpt-drugsbeleid-aan-focus-op-ketamine-en-mdma-onderzoek/

The number of people in Japan who have tried cocaine in the past reached a record high of around 350,000 in fiscal 2025, a recent survey conducted by a research group at the health ministry found. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/07/06/japan/crime-legal/cocaine-usage/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #drugs #marijuana #cocaine #stimulants #mdma

Grateful Dead Live at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 1985-07-01

#GratefulDead #LiveMusic #TIGDH #MDMA
https://archive.org/details/gd1985-07-01.sbd.miller.96421.sbeok.shnf

Grateful Dead Live at Merriweather Post Pavilion on 1985-06-30

#GratefulDead #LiveMusic #TIGDH #MDMA
https://archive.org/details/gd1985-06-30.sbd.miller.89192.sbeok.flac16

“People with childhood maltreatment histories, on average, report lower levels of PTSD symptoms, complex PTSD (#CPTSD) symptoms, and internalized shame and higher levels of connectedness to themselves, others, and the world after using psychedelics with therapeutic intent at organized group ceremonies or at raves or other electronic dance music events.”

https://www.psypost.org/taking-psychedelics-at-raves-and-ceremonies-may-help-heal-childhood-trauma/

#MDMA #LSD #Psilocybin

𝗡𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗼 𝗚. 𝘃𝗿𝗶𝗷𝗴𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘇𝗮𝗮𝗸 𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗹𝗼𝗲𝗶𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗗𝗠𝗔 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻

In Duitsland is de Nederlander Theo G. vrijgesproken in een zaak die vooral een stadje in Beieren bezighoudt. De 46-jarige Arnhemmer werd ervan verdacht flessen champagne met daarin vloeibare MDMA te verkopen en lid te zijn van een drugsorganisatie. Maar er...

https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/binnenland/artikel/5595411/rechtszaak-nederlander-theo-g-vrijgesproken-zaak-rond-vloeibare

#TheoG #vrijgesproken #MDMA

in fact the reason there is now such a problem with #ketamine and #cocaine is *because* prohibition had short term gains - Tories put a lot of effort into hammering the illegal #rave culture round here and stopping overt noisy hedonism such as loud parties where #MDMA was more popular - folk are now drinking more #alcohol and taking a few cheeky lines to stay awake, also cocaine and ketamine are shorter lasting so more popular with those who have work on Monday (or even next day).

New DUI laws and random tests *have* discouraged a lot of middle class users (they need to keep their driving licences in a car-dependent region), but leave a stubborn core of those who live in the urban areas and don't have to drive regularly..