He says this does not mean that Ecstasy users are at risk of dementia, but that there's a loss of brain efficiency in both Ecstasy users and early Alzheimer's patients. They contend that while he researches the facts of his subject. Cowan interprets this increased activation as a sign of a less functional brain.Ĭowan points out that this pattern of hyper-excitability is similar to that seen in studies of individuals at risk for or with early Alzheimer's disease. Some critics have been particularly harsh in their estimation of Stone's techniques in The Agony and the Ecstasy. The heaviest Ecstasy users also showed a greater spatial extent of activation (more of the region was active) in BA 17 and BA 18.ĭr. The scans showed a direct, linear relationship between lifetime Ecstasy use and activation in all three brain regions - the more Ecstasy a subject had taken during their life, the greater was the activation seen in all three brain regions. The researchers looked at three brain areas: the visual system lateral geniculate nucleus and Brodmann Areas (BA) 17 and 18. All underwent fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans during visual stimulation. In discussing the Vanderbilt study, Cowan says that its results are what were expected, based on previous animal studies: Ecstasy use is associated with a loss of serotonin signaling, which leads to hyper-excitability in the brain.ĪDVERTISEMENT The study was of 20 long-term Ecstasy users, all of whom were abstinent for at least two weeks before the study, and 20 non-users. Cowan thinks that the most relevant question is whether or not Ecstasy use causes long-term brain damage. To be so would be just as abnormal as to be unhappy 100 of the time. We have established then that we cannot be happy 100 of the time. We were born to feel our way through life, its agony, ecstasy and its in between. What we call positive and negative emotions. 'There's tension in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy between those who think Ecstasy could be a valuable therapeutic that's not being tested because of overblown fears, and those who are concerned about the drug's potentially harmful effects,' Cowan said in a university press release.ĭr. Love, peace, anger, pain, loss, happiness, joy, and so forth. Ronald Cowan, who headed the Vanderbilt study, is concerned about some recent media coverage of Ecstasy - pieces reporting on possible therapeutic uses of Ecstasy in PTSD sufferers that suggest that some of Ecstasy's negative effects have been overstated. The researchers interpret this as signs of hyper-excitability in these regions of the brain - the need for more brain to be used to perform a task, which means a loss of brain efficiency.ĭr. ADVERTISEMENT The Vanderbilt study found increased brain activation in three brain areas associated with visual processing in subjects with the highest lifetime Ecstasy use.

Agony and ecstasy doctors