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April 29, 2015
Acetaminophen Flattens Emotions While Relieving Pain
Columbua, OH—Users of acetaminophen may appreciate that the common OTC drug helps relieves headaches and other pain but, chances are, they are not really thrilled about it. A new study reports that, in a previously unknown side effect, the drug lessens positive emotion while also alleviating pain. The results were published only recently by the journal Psychological Science. Ohio State University researchers reveal that study participants who took acetaminophen reported less strong emotions when they saw both very pleasant and very disturbing photos, compared to those administered placebos. The authors also note that this is the first report of the side effect with acetaminophen, marketed under the brand name Tylenol, which has been used for more than 70 years in the United States. Previous research, however, documented acetaminophen’s effectiveness in controlling psychological pain as well as physician pain. “This means that using Tylenol or similar products might have broader consequences than previously thought,” said lead author Geoffrey Durso, a doctoral student in social psychology at Ohio State. “Rather than just being a pain reliever, acetaminophen can be seen as an all-purpose emotion reliever.” Baldwin Way, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology, pointed out that study participants apparently didn’t recognize they were reacting differently, adding, “Most people probably aren't aware of how their emotions may be impacted when they take acetaminophen.” College students were used in two studies conducted by the research team. The first involved 82 participants divided equally into two groups—one receiving a dose of 1,000 milligrams of acetaminophen and the other getting an identical-looking placebo. After waiting an hour for the drug to take effect, the students viewed 40 photographs pulled from a system used by researchers to elicit emotional response; the photo subjects ranged from unpleasant images, such as crying, malnourished children, to very pleasant ones, such as young children playing with cats. After the photos were rated on a positive-negative scale and then on another scale measuring emotional reaction, researchers found that participants receiving acetaminophen were less extreme in their ratings than those getting a placebo. “People who took acetaminophen didn't feel the same highs or lows as did the people who took placebos,” Way said. The results were duplicated in a second study involving 85 participants viewing the same photographs, although they also were asked to report how much blue they saw in each photo. Judgments of blue color were similar across both groups—those receiving acetaminophen versus placebo—but emotional reactions differed. “These findings suggest that acetaminophen has a general blunting effect on individuals’ evaluative and emotional processing, irrespective of negative or positive valence,” the authors conclude. |
U.S. Pharmacist Social Connect
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