ArticleScientific reports2023
Drug-induced social connection: both MDMA and methamphetamine increase feelings of connectedness during controlled dyadic conversations.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- The empathogen 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, but not methamphetamine, increases feelings of global trust.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Trial
- Large-scale brain connectivity changes following the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide, d-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Impact of childhood adversity on acute subjective effects of stimulant and opioid drugs: Evidence from placebo-controlled studies in healthy volunteers.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Preliminary evidence for the importance of therapeutic alliance in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Trial
- Choreographing time: toward therapy-aligned entactogens for complex PTSD.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The psychedelic-peptide paradox: a hormetic hypothesis.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- Drugs Used in "Chemsex"/Sexualized Drug Behaviour-Overview of the Related Clinical Psychopharmacological Issues.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Modifying Informed Consent to Help Address Functional Unmasking in Psychedelic Clinical Trials.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Review
- MDMA as well as amphetamine and alcohol increase feelings of social closeness in healthy adults.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Methylenedioxymethamphetamine is a connectogen with empathogenic, entactogenic, and still further connective properties: It is time to reconcile "the great entactogen-empathogen debate".Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Review
- Altered States and Social Bonds: Effects of MDMA and Serotonergic Psychedelics on Social Behavior as a Mechanism Underlying Substance-Assisted Therapy.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Review
- Introducing IOSScientific reports · 2024Article
- MDMA for PTSD and beyond: a new paradigm brings hope.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- MDMA modulates human sensorimotor cortical pathways during gentle touch.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Context is a Critical for Psychoactive Drug Effects.CNS drugs · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
MDMA is a stimulant-like drug with distinctive empathogenic effects. Its pro-social effects, such as feelings of connectedness, may contribute to both its popularity as a recreational drug and its apparent value as an adjunct to psychotherapy. However, little is known about the behavioral processes by which MDMA affects social interactions. This investigation examined the effects of MDMA (100 mg versus placebo; N = 18) on feelings of connectedness with an unfamiliar partner during a semi-structured casual conversation. A separate study examined the effects of a prototypic stimulant methamphetamine (MA; 20 mg versus placebo; N = 19) to determine the pharmacological specificity of effects. Oxytocin levels were obtained in both studies. Compared to placebo, both MDMA and MA increased feelings of connection with the conversation partners. Both MDMA and MA increased oxytocin levels, but oxytocin levels were correlated with feeling closer to the partner only after MDMA. These findings demonstrate an important new dimension of the pro-social effects of MDMA, its ability to increase feelings of connectedness during casual conversations between two individuals. Surprisingly, MA had a similar effect. The findings extend our knowledge of the social effects of these drugs, and illustrate a sensitive method for assessing pro-social effects during in-person dyadic encounters.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.