Amphetamines and MD-amphetamines (MDMA, MDA and MDE) are two different classes of drugs, with SSRIs preventing the effects of the latter ecstasy type drugs while not interfering with the stimulatory effects of the former type of drug. Classical amphetamines are primarily catecholamine (DA, dopamine, and NE, norepinephrine) releasers, while ecstasy is primarily a serotonin (5-HT) releaser. The DA/NE releasing effect is more addictive than the 5-HT releasing effect. However, MDMA also increase intracellular DA levels to some extent, which gives it some rewarding properties. MBDB, BDB, and MDAI (2-amino-5,6-methylenedioxyindan) are also serotonin releasers--but not dopamine releasers--and are not as widely abused as MDMA, nor are they self-administered by test animals. Interestingly, people can get high on the classical amphetamines for years without developing much long term tolerance, which is certainly not the case for MDMA users.
I have found that using cocaine while rolling on ecstasy destroys my ecstasy high, but YMMV. I have never heard of someone taking cocaine and ecstasy at the same time and lengthening their high that way, but there's a first time for everything I guess.
Over the long term, the use of SSRIs such as Prozac and Zoloft may increase available brain serotonin (5-HT), but the brain seems to compensate for this by actually reducing the available levels of dopamine (DA) in your brain. This neurochemical side effect is why many SSRIs can cause blunting of affect (that is, flattening of mood), and why they suck so much / have no recreational value. I have read that DA reuptake inhibitor type antidepressant drugs are currently being synthesized and tested, but I have my doubts as to whether they will be much better than the SSRIs.
Big pharma is also looking at acetylcholine nicotinic receptor agonists as a treatment for depression. One promising molecular candidate, ABT-594, is a nicotinic agonist that is reportedly 200x stronger than morphine at relieving pain, although ABT-594 is not thought to be an opioid, as its effects in rats are not reversed by the injection of naloxone, an opioid antagonist used for heroin overdoses. Whether ABT-594 will turn out to be an addictive drug of abuse is a question that is still up in the air at this point. It too releases NE and DA, so my bet is yes on that point.
In children at least, SSRIs have been shown only about 10 percent more effective than a sugar pill (a placebo) in alleviating depression. SSRIs have no recreational value and, in my opinion, are highly doubtful to be efficacious in the treatment of depression, for me at least. They are the modern day psychopharmacological snake oil. Marijuana, which reduces the release of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), a stress hormone and is also a DA agonist, is a better antidepressant in my opinion, although its increase in susceptibility to psychotic disorders should be watched for and treated with atypical antipsychotics if necessary.
).
8(