FRIDAY, Aug. 23, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Ecstasy, the popular dance party drug, is often used by those who feel socially isolated and need help coping with their loneliness.
That's the conclusion of a new study presented yesterday at the American Psychological Association's Annual Convention in Chicago.
"Ecstasy users may choose this drug to help mediate the negative effects of loneliness," says Tricia Orzeck, the co-researcher on the paper from York University in Toronto.
While turning to drugs to cope with psychological problems isn't a new phenomenon, using ecstasy to feel better may be even more troublesome than using other drugs. Ecstasy can cause confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety and paranoia, according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, and recent studies have indicated it may cause permanent, long-term brain damage.
Orzeck and her colleague, Ami Rokach, recruited 818 people for their study. One hundred and six were regular users of ecstasy, 88 used other drugs, such as marijuana or alcohol, and 624 reported no drug use. The average age of the volunteers was 22. Of the total, 543 were women and 275 were men.
Each participant completed a questionnaire on how they had coped with loneliness in the past. The answers fell into six broad coping strategies: reflection and acceptance, self-development and understanding, social support network, distancing and denial, religion and faith, or increased activity.
The researchers found drug users coped with loneliness differently than non-drug users, and ecstasy users coped differently than other drug users did.
Ecstasy users were at least three times more likely to deny that they were feeling lonely than non-drug users, and almost twice as likely as other drug users. People who used ecstasy were also the most likely to seek out social support and to increase their daily activities.
By contrast, non-drug users most often turned to reflection and acceptance, meaning they spent time alone, reflecting on their fears and accepted the pain of their loneliness. Non-drug users were also much more likely to turn to religion and faith to help them cope with loneliness than either ecstasy or other drug users.
Dr. Kenneth Skodnek, chair of the department of psychiatry and psychology at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, N.Y., says the findings make sense.
"Alcohol has been labeled a social lubricant in the past, because people who didn't feel comfortable at social gatherings would drink to loosen up," says Skodnek. "Perhaps ecstasy is the newest version of the social lubricant."
However, he says ecstasy use should be avoided: "There can be severe physical consequences and lingering effects on brain function. This is not a benign substance."
He says there are effective prescription medications that can help people with social phobias or anxiety, but adds that teens and young adults often don't seek help from their parents or health-care professionals.
The researchers suggest that by understanding the coping strategies used by different groups, counselors can come up with more effective and healthier options when counseling lonely young people.
What to Do
For more information on the detrimental effects of ecstasy, visit the Drug Policy Alliance or the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
