Personality+and+Behaviours+Changes


 * Personality and Behaviour Changes (How the Brain is Affected) **

**People who use ecstasy have been occasionally found to have different personalities than people who do not use ecstasy. Of the reported differences between these two categories of people, the people who do not use illicit drugs reflect preexisting differences. In ecstasy users there is increased novelty seeking, venturesomeness and impulsivity, but this can be an expected result when comparing illicit drug users to non illicit drug users.** **However when the studies were used with the same volunteers for behavioural tests there was nothing found to be different between the two groups of population.**

**Other studies have also found that there is a difference in ecstasy exposure and altered neurofunctioning.**

 Table II: Reported Neurofunctional Differences Between Ecstasy Users and Nonusers

 **In cognitive tests however, they do not appear to have impairment in day-to-day activities, but in young people the tests show that young healthy people cannot perform to the best of their ability. If young users today keep using while they age it has been speculated that aging ecstasy users might have the possible change of increased risk of depressing and other affective disorders.**
 * **Measure** || **Selective for Serotonergic Differences?** || **Relevant Animal Literature?** || **Correlated with MDMA Exposure?** || **Evidence for Recovery?** || **References** ||
 * ~ Putative Serotonergic Measures ||
 * **Decreased** CSF 5-HIAA in 3 of 4 studies || Yes || **Decreased up to 2 weeks after MDMA in squirrel monkeys (Ricaurte et al., 1988) and 14 weeks after MDMA in rhesus monkeys (Insel et al., 1989).** || No || No || Decreased in McCann et al.,1999, 1994; Ricaurte et al.,1990. Unchanged in Peroutka et al., 1989 ||
 * **Decreased then Increased** 5-HT2a receptor density in 1 of 1 studies || Yes || **Decreased** at 24 hr,**normal** at 21 d after MDMA in rats (Scheffel et al., 1992). || Yes || Not reported || Increased in Reneman et al., 2000a; Decreased then increased in Reneman et al., 2000b ||
 * **Decreased**neuroendocrine response to serotonergic drugs, in 3 of 5 studies || Yes || **Increased at 2 months, normal at 12 months in rats (Poland et al., 1991)** || Yes in Gerra et al., 2000 || No || Decreased in Gerra et al., 2000, 1998; McCann et al., 1999a. Unchanged in Price et al., 1989; McCann et al., 1994. ||
 * **Decreased** SERT density, estimated with PET, in 2 of 2 studies || Disputed - ligand kinetics may be altered by other changes (Kuikka & Ahonen 1998). || **PET measures apparently decreased in one baboon up to 14 weeks after MDMA (Scheffel et al., 1998).** || Yes, though McCann included controls. || Mixed (Yes in Semple; No in McCann) || Semple et al., 1999; McCann et al., 1998. ||
 * **Increased** stimulus dependence for ERP EEG N1/P2 amplitudes in 1 of 1 studies || Disputed – 5HT depletion did not change measure in one study (Dierks et al., 1999). || Unknown || No || Not reported || Tuchtenhagen et al., 2000 ||

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_neurotoxicity1.shtml#cognitiveneurotoxicity