Altered States and Social Bonds: Effects of MDMA and Serotonergic Psychedelics on Social Behavior as a Mechanism Underlying Substance-Assisted Therapy.

ABSTRACT: There has been renewed interest in the use of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and serotonergic psychedelics in the treatment of multiple psychiatric disorders. Many of these compounds are known to produce prosocial effects, but how these effects relate to therapeutic efficacy and the extent to which prosocial effects are unique to a particular drug class is unknown. In this article, we present a narrative overview and compare evidence for the prosocial effects of MDMA and serotonergic psychedelics to elucidate shared mechanisms that may underlie the therapeutic process. We discuss 4 categories of prosocial effects: altered self-image, responses to social reward, responses to negative social input, and social neuroplasticity. While both categories of drugs alter self-perception, M

SUBMITTER: Schmid Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11378972 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature