The consequences of MDMA use are not easily disentangled from other drug use or lifestyle factors.
Brain April 30, 2026 Lukas A Basedow
The consequences of MDMA use are not easily disentangled from other drug use or lifestyle factors.
Lukas A Basedow
8 papers in the library · 97 citations · publishing 2021-2026
Papers
Under Pressure: Stronger depressive symptoms are associated with more positive expectations towards experimental treatments
May 16, 2025 Lukas A Basedow, Lynn Lottes, Irina Falkenberg et al. 1 citation preprint
Background: Despite significant advancements in the treatment of depression, challenges such as inadequate response rates and high placebo effects highlight the need for improved therapies and a deeper understanding of treatment expectations. Patient expectations play a crucial role in treatment outcomes but have not been systematically investigated in the context of novel interventions like...
Sporadic use of classic psychedelics and neuropsychological performance: A cross-sectional analysis.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry April 2, 2025 Simon Reiche, Tim Hirschfeld, Anna Lena Gröticke et al. 5 citations
Evidence on the neuropsychological consequences of classic psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca is conflicting, and little is known about how sporadic use of psychedelics under naturalistic conditions may affect cognitive functioning. Given the growing interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and the rise in non-medical use, further exploration into their...
Cognitive functioning associated with acute and subacute effects of classic psychedelics and MDMA - a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Scientific Reports June 26, 2024 Lukas A Basedow, Tomislav Majić, Nicklas Jakob Hafiz et al. 13 citations
Classic psychedelics and MDMA have a colorful history of recreational use, and both have recently been re-evaluated as tools for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Several studies have been carried out to assess potential long-term effects of a regular use on cognition, delivering distinct results for psychedelics and MDMA. However, to date knowledge is scarce on cognitive performance...
Motives for the use of serotonergic psychedelics: A systematic review.
Drug and Alcohol Review September 1, 2022 Lukas A Basedow, Sören Kuitunen-Paul 42 citations
Serotonergic psychedelics (SP) are psychoactive substances that produce unique sets of subjective effects, such as hallucinatory experiences. This systematic review is the first to summarise which motives for SP use have been assessed in medical, psychological, sociological and ethnological research across different types of SPs and across cultural backgrounds. Findings on use motives can be...
Attenuated Psychotic Symptoms in Adolescents With Chronic Cannabis and MDMA Use
Frontiers in Psychiatry January 21, 2022 Melina Wiedmann, Sören Kuitunen-Paul, Lukas A Basedow et al. 5 citations
ObjectivesBoth substance use, on the one hand, and the first signs of psychosis, on the other, commonly begin in adolescence. Adolescents with substance use disorder (SUD) frequently show recreational use of cannabis and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). When attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) occur during the course of SUD, they are commonly attributed to the cannabis use, neglecting...
Neuropsychological Functioning in Users of Serotonergic Psychedelics – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Frontiers in Pharmacology September 16, 2021 Lukas A Basedow, Thomas Riemer, Simon Reiche et al. 16 citations
Background: Serotonergic psychedelics (SPs) like LSD, psilocybin, DMT, and mescaline are a heterogeneous group of substances that share agonism at 5-HT 2a receptors. Besides the ability of these substances to facilitate profoundly altered states of consciousness, persisting psychological effects have been reported after single administrations, which outlast the acute psychedelic effects. In...
Self-reported PTSD is associated with increased use of MDMA in adolescents with substance use disorders
European Journal of Psychotraumatology 2021 Lukas A Basedow, Sören Kuitunen-Paul, Melina Wiedmann et al. 15 citations
ABSTRACT Background: Adolescent patients with a substance use disorder (SUD) often fulfil the criteria for a co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, it is not clear if these dual-diagnosed adolescents present with unique levels of substance use and how their substance use relates to PTSD symptom clusters. Objective: To investigate substance use in adolescents with...