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MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy pills, is encouraging more people to cooperate on tasks and to restore confidence faster, according to researchers studying its use in the treatment of psychological disorders.
The analyzes reveal an increase in activity in some parts of the brain, related to empathy and social behavior, that helps to interpret the beliefs and intentions of others, said researchers at King's College London.
This could make it a useful adjunct to psychotherapy sessions and the drug is currently undergoing medical tests to evaluate its use in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
"Understanding the brain activity underlying social behavior could help identify what is wrong with psychiatric conditions," said Professor Mitul Mehta of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience of the King ( IoPPN).
"Given the social nature of psychotherapy, understanding how MDMA affects social interactions explains why the drug could become a valuable tool in treating patients."
If it is possible to make users more useful and more collaborative, they could be exploited, but Professor Mehta and his team discovered that the drug did not make users gullible.
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After taking part in a series of challenges in which participants could cooperate or make mistakes, the MDMA subjects were just as likely to be unreliable as the participants receiving a placebo.
"What's important, the MDMA has not brought participants to cooperate with untrustworthy players, any more than normal. In other words, the MDMA did not cause participants to trust others, "added Professor Mehta.
To understand the effect of MDMA on our brain and our behavior, the team recruited 20 healthy adult men and gave them either MDMA or placebo when they performed a series of tasks in a MRI scanner.
One of the tasks was a version of the puzzle of economics, the prisoner's dilemma.
The task assumes that two accomplices have been arrested and are interrogated separately by the police. Each of them is offered the opportunity to take on his partner and be released for testifying to a more serious crime, or to remain silent and to serve a short sentence. If both partners torment each other, they both get a longer sentence.
During the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience On Monday, MDMA participants were less likely to cheat on their partner than those on placebo. Where they had been previously deceived – and knew that their partner was untrustworthy – MDMA subjects were likely to act as selfishly as those on placebo, but they were quicker to trust these partners after a series of cooperation.
This was based on patterns of brain activity, which showed that MDMA illuminated the superior temporal cortex and central cortex of cingulum, areas known to play a key role in understanding and interpreting the intentions and beliefs of others. .
Meanwhile, the right anterior insula, a key region of the brain involved in the assessment of risk and uncertainty, has shown increased activity on MDMA – but it declined when you have worked with less trustworthy partners.
"With MRI scans, we also found that MDMA had an impact on brain activity when treating other people's behavior, rather than changing the decision-making process itself." , said Anthony Gabay, first author of the study.
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