Effects Of MDMA On The Brain

MDMA neurotoxicity is a matter of controversial debate since no conclusive studies have been yet conducted on humans. Studies carried on monkeys show that MDMA use can cause brain damage in these animals, but long-term effects of MDMA in humans have yet to be demonstrated. However, there are signs that people that use ecstasy too often can suffer of brain damage on the long run, such effects of MDMA including difficulty to learn and to remember things.

Your brain on MDMA

The brain activity is based on what the nervous cells are capable of doing; among these functions, release of natural antidepressant is regulated by serotonin receptors that have the role to let out the happiness hormone. MDMA use determines the release of serotonin to occur forcefully, and in a very large quantity, which causes the users to feel euphoric and very energetic. However, since the serotonin receptors are forced to work in overdrive, they are then retracted by the nervous cells and dopamine invades the cells specialized in making serotonin. The immediate effect is oxidation, a process that can cause neurotoxicity on the long run. Also, once the reserve of natural antidepressant is depleted, the brain takes a while until it commands the serotonin receptors to start working again. Effects of MDMA often include depression, paranoia and panic attacks, due to the lack of serotonin in the brain after the drug abuse.

Are the serotonin receptors destroyed for good

Long-term effects of MDMA may include brain damage, but the studies carried on brain scans performed on heavy users of ecstasy have not delivered clear results. While the studies carried on monkeys, which are considered to have brains that are very similar to human ones, show that even six years after drug abuse brain damage still exist, not the same thing can be said about human users. Those that gave up ecstasy showed signs of regaining their natural antidepressant receptors within months from the start of their abstinence.

Effects of MDMA on the human brain

Even if research is still needed in order to discover whether MDMA use can cause brain damage for good or not, the immediate effects of MDMA on the brain should not be neglected. Those that use ecstasy for a prolonged period of time often accuse certain slowness in brain functions, and they often find it hard to concentrate and to learn. This is one of the signs of MDMA use in teenagers, as they fall back in school, because they find it more and more difficult to keep up with their classmates. Such discoveries are very interesting, as it means that the nervous cells specialized in making natural antidepressant have multiple functions. As the serotonin receptors slow down or disappear for a while, other brain functions are influenced for worse, too. Even if researchers cannot tell whether these are long-term effects of MDMA or not, the issue is too important to be taken lightly. MDMA use can have an important impact on the brain, which is why ecstasy should not be considered a safe drug.