The Role of MDMA (Ecstasy) in Coping with Negative Life Situations Among Urban Young Adults

Abstract

This article examines the role of Ecstasy (MDMA or 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) as a drug used for self-medication and coping with both short- and long-term negative life situations. We show that urban youth who do not have a specific diagnosed mental illness are more likely than those who have been diagnosed and have received treatment to use Ecstasy to cope with both situational stress and lifetime trauma. Diagnosed and treated youth sometimes self-medicate with other drugs, but do not choose Ecstasy for mediation of their psychological stress. We discuss the implications of self-medication with Ecstasy for mental health services to urban youth experiencing mental health disparities, and for the continued testing and prescription of MDMA for therapeutic use in controlled clinical settings.

Keywords:

• coping
• Ecstasy
• MDMA
• mental health
• self medication

Acknowledgments

This investigation was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse NIDA GRANT # R01 DA0203939, MDMA and STD/HIV Risk among Hidden Networks of Ecstasy-Using Young Adults. The authors would like to express gratitude to several people for their assistance in the development of this study. We would like to thank Ivica Pavisic for his involvement in the early stages of the development of this study. Thanks to members of the MDMA research team— Noelle Bessette, Sari Fromson, Chavon Hamilton, Christina Kraweck, Elyse Singer and study coordinator Elsie Vasquez-Long. Lastly, thank you to the participants for sharing their stories.

Notes

1. NIDA GRANT # R01 DA0203939, MDMA and STD/HIV Risk among Hidden Networks of Ecstasy-Using Young Adults.

2. The exception was a single individual coping with a current and relationship problem, plus a history of abuse.

3. In quotes below “E” represents the ethnographer and “P” the participant.