Erowid References Database
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Gamma A.
“Does Ecstasy cause memory deficits? A review of studies of memory function in Ecstasy users”.
MAPS. 2001 Jan.
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Abstract
An increasing number of scientific studies have recently been published that all report memory deficits of some sort in Ecstasy users. The media have made a lot of fuss about these findings, but often in superficial and sensational ways, leaving many concerned Ecstasy users and other people alone with their need for competent and balanced information. I’d like to address these concerns by attempting a critical review of these studies that is, so I hope, accessible to interested readers outside the scientific community. The 15 studies listed below will be reviewed. These practically exhaust all published research that has been done on the subject to date.1 For the sake of brevity and legibility, I’ll refer to these papers by the name of the first author (e.g. Morgan found that...), on the understanding that all co-workers are meant to be included.
I will proceed as follows: I‘ll start by giving some background on why these studies are methodologically problematic in general, then provide a brief review of each of them, summarize the data and discuss several possible explanations for the findings, thus offering a tentative answer to the question in the title. I will conclude by outlining some consequences for the recreational and clinical use of MDMA.
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| Notes # : The original 2000 version of this article appeared in: MAPS Bulletin, 2000 Nov 21; 10(2) |
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