Psychedelic Medicine MDMA May Revive 'Critical Period' In Brain To Help Treat PTSD

A group of neuroscientists from Johns Hopkins found that psychoactive drug MDMA, or ecstasy, causes a neural response called a "critical period" when the brain is sensitive to the reward value of social behaviour.

The findings reported in Nature earlier this month may explain why MDMA can be useful in treating post-traumatic stress disorder people.

Neuroscientist Gül Dölen and her team studied groups of mice in enclosures with different bedding. They put several mice together in one enclosure with one type of bedding for 24 hours and, in the next 24 hours, put the same mice by themselves in another enclosure with a different type of bedding. The mice began to associate certain types of bedding with isolation or companionship. Then, they let the mice wander between enclosures with the two types of bedding and tracked how long the mice spent in each enclosure. The more time the mice spent in the bedding linked to their companions indicated more social reward learning.

Dölen says that opening the critical window for social reward behavior may also have implications for treating psychiatric conditions. A strong bond between a psychotherapist and patient is well-known to be important for successful treatment. If MDMA reopens the critical period for social reward learning in humans in the same way it does for mice, then it could explain why the drug has been successful in treating people with PTSD, perhaps by strengthening the psychotherapist-patient bond.

The researchers, however, caution that for every psychiatric condition linked to social behaviours MDMA may not work.





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