Recreational ecstasy/MDMA and other drug users from
the UK and Italy: psychiatric symptoms and psychobiological problems
by
Parrott AC, Milani RM, Parmar R, Turner JD.
Department of Psychology,
University of East London, London E15 4LZ, UK,
a.c.parrott@uel.ac.uk
Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2001 Dec;159(1):77-82

ABSTRACT

RATIONALE: Recreational drug use is increasingly widespread amongst young people, but there are concerns that psychoactive drugs may be associated with psychiatric symptoms or psychobiological problems. OBJECTIVES: To assess the psychiatric health status of a large, non-clinical sample of young adults from Italy and the UK, and relate it to their use of ecstasy/MDMA and other recreational drugs. METHODS: The UEL Recreational Drug Use Questionnaire was completed by 768 young people (mean age 21.7 years) from four European cities. The subjects comprised 150 non-drug users, 185 alcohol/tobacco users, 97 cannabis and alcohol/tobacco users, 102 illicit polydrug but not ecstasy users, 115 light (<20 times) ecstasy polydrug users, and 119 heavy (>20 times) ecstasy polydrug users. The unpaid volunteers completed the SCL-90 self-rating inventory for psychiatric symptoms when off drug, with 30 additional questions covering positive moods and life experiences. RESULTS: Heavy ecstasy polydrug users reported significantly higher scores than non-drug users on several SCL-90 factors, including phobic anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, anxiety, psychoticism, somatisation, and significantly higher rates of 'loss of sex interest or pleasure'. Self-rated symptom scores increased in line with greater drug use, so that polydrug users who had never taken ecstasy also reported a variety of psychobiological impairments. In contrast, positive moods and life experiences were broadly similar across subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: The recreational use of ecstasy/MDMA is associated with a range of psychiatric symptoms and psychobiological problems. However, these problems are not specific to ecstasy users but are also evident in other recreational polydrug users.

History
MDMA/MDE
Polydrug use
Controversies
Oxidative stress
Protect and survive
MDMA and immunity
Cutaneous vasoconstriction
Ecstasy/MDMA and cannabis
Arginine-vasopressin release
MDMA and executive function
Ecstasy and serotonin synthesis
Serotonin, noradrenline and dopamine
MDMA plus caffeine causes tachycardia
The confounding problem of polydrug use
MDMA (Ecstasy) plus methamphetamine