{"id":4506,"date":"2015-06-01T06:38:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T06:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=4506"},"modified":"2015-06-01T06:39:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T06:39:10","slug":"mdma-aka-ecstasy-may-be-new-treatment-for-autisms-social-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/mdma-aka-ecstasy-may-be-new-treatment-for-autisms-social-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"MDMA, aka Ecstasy, May Be New Treatment for Autism\u2019s Social Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4507\" src=\"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma-300x282.jpg\" alt=\"ecstasy-mdma\" width=\"300\" height=\"282\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma-300x282.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>A recreational drug known for making people uninhibited and getting them dancing in clubs could get a new use: to help treat social anxiety among autistic adults, according to a new proposal by a group of researchers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">MDMA, the active ingredient in the street drug Ecstasy, has been administered to 1,133 individuals without serious drawbacks over the last year, according to the new paper,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #bf3b41;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.maps.org\/research-archive\/mdma\/danforth-et-al-2015-mdma-autism.pdf?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">published in the journal Progress in<\/span><\/a><a style=\"color: #bf3b41;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.maps.org\/research-archive\/mdma\/danforth-et-al-2015-mdma-autism.pdf?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0<\/a>Neuro- Psychopharmacology and Biological Pshychiatry<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">New clinical trials could prove to break through some social anxiety that has\u00a0proven immune to treatments up until now, according to the authors, who were partly supported by a non-profit called\u00a0<a style=\"color: #bf3b41;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mdma-autism.org\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS<\/span><\/a>. The trials as proposed would involve 12 patients, four of whom\u00a0would receive a placebo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cUnsolicited accounts of personal MDMA\/Ecstasy use have provided consistent statements about its effects on social behavior,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cSome comments have included descriptions of overall improvement in functioning, whereas other examples have described psychosocial healing and relief from symptoms such as anxiety and trauma. Another common theme reported is improved connectedness to others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">MDMA is a laboratory-synthesized drug first created in Germany in 1912. Its use for psychological treatment was investigated in the 1970s, but stopped when side effects were reported, according to the authors. The compound has been illegal in the United States since the 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">MDMA is also still being used experimentally to\u00a0<a style=\"color: #bf3b41;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mdmaptsd.org\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD<\/span><\/a>. So far, those trials have shown promise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">According to the scientific literature, MDMA has proven to be predominantly safe \u2013 though recreational incidents of overheating, drinking too much or too little water, or drug interactions have been reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The new paper outlines the details of signing consents, screening, possible patients, and establishing safety protocols to further explore the viability of MDMA treatment in autism, the authors said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cInformed understanding of the facts about MDMA, a psychotherapeutic compound known to engage prosocial behaviors, is as relevant to clinicians, researchers, the public and policymakers now as in any earlier point in its history,\u201d wrote the authors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Source:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dddmag.com\/news\/2015\/05\/mdma-aka-ecstasy-may-be-new-treatment-autisms-social-anxiety?et_cid=4597342&amp;et_rid=423855790&amp;type=image\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> dddmag.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recreational drug known for making people uninhibited and getting them dancing in clubs could get a new use: to help treat social anxiety among autistic adults, according to a new proposal by a group of researchers. MDMA, the active ingredient in the street drug Ecstasy, has been administered to 1,133 individuals without serious drawbacks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",1000,941,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma-300x282.jpg",300,282,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",750,706,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",750,706,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",1000,941,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",1000,941,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",850,800,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",606,570,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",600,565,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",600,565,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",521,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",383,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",69,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",640,602,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",96,90,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ecstasy-mdma.jpg",150,141,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/category\/news\/research\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}