Prosocial Effects of MDMA

This early Phase I interventional trial (n=34) aims to explore the effects of familiarity on the prosocial effects of MDMA.

The University of Chicago is conducting this study to investigate whether MDMA exhibits greater prosocial effects when administered in the presence of a familiar person compared to an unfamiliar person.

Participants, aged between 18 to 35, who have used MDMA or psychedelics between 1-40 times, possess a high school diploma or equivalent, have a BMI between 19 and 30, and have verbal fluency in English are eligible for the study. Exclusion criteria include a history of adverse effects with MDMA, high blood pressure, any medical condition requiring regular medication, recent DSM-IV Axis 1 diagnosis, and pregnancy or attempts to conceive.

Participants will be divided into four groups and engage in social interactions with either a familiar or unfamiliar partner under the influence of MDMA or placebo. The primary outcome measures include differences in speech content using natural language processing and changes in emotional expressions analysed with HUMEAI software during a 15-minute conversation occurring 1.5 hours after drug administration.

Secondary outcome measures include changes in oxytocin levels, self-reported feelings of connection using Likert scale conversation questionnaires, and ratings of affective touch pleasantness, intensity, and desire for more touch after different velocities of touch post-drug administration.

The study is expected to be completed by June 2024.

Topic Healthy Subjects
Compound MDMA Placebo
Country United States of America
Visit trial
Status Recruiting
Results Published No
Start date 21 July 2023
End date 30 June 2024
Phase Phase I
Design Blinded
Type Interventional
Generation First
Participants 34
Sex All
Age 18- 35
Therapy Yes

Trial Details

In this study, the aim is to test the hypothesis that MDMA produces greater prosocial effects when administered in the presence of a familiar, compared to an unfamiliar, person

NCT Number NCT05948683

Sponsors & Collaborators

University of Chicago
Research with psychedelics is taking place at the Human Behavioral Pharmacology Lab at the University of Chicago.

Data attribution

A large set of the trials in our database are sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (CTG). We have modified these post to display the information in a more clear format or to correct spelling mistakes. Our database in actively updated and may show a different status (e.g. completed) if we have knowledge of this update (e.g. a published paper on the study) which isn't reflected yet on CTG. If a trial is not sourced from CTG, this is indicated on this page and you can follow the link to the alternative source of information.