Still In Two Minds?
Several psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia have been circumstantially
associated with the use of MDMA (Schifano and
Magni 1994) There is very little scientific evidence to support
or explain the majority of these associations. As a point of interest
I include one suggested link between MDMA use and schizophrenia.
MDMA has historically been used as a truth drug and, by psychiatrists to
facilitate communication (Morgan 2000).
It is argued that the lasting effects of a “bad trip” are similar to post
traumatic stress disorder which, the argument goes, could be caused by
the disturbing memories or images which MDMA use can release (Jansen
1997). Schizophrenia can be induced in susceptible individuals by intense
emotional experiences (Schultz 1999) therefore
it is possible that one mechanism by which MDMA use causes long term harm
is not by its direct neurotoxic effect but rather the psychological effects
of experiences revisited in its use.
