The best-selling painkiller in France would act as an emotional switch. After consuming it, the pain and joy of others is less perceived.
Swallowing a paracetamol tablet makes you less sensitive to the pain of others. To believe a study published in the newspaper Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, the best-selling drug in France would reduce empathy.
This unexpected side effect was discovered by researchers at Ohio University (USA). In previous work, they had observed that paracetamol, also called acetaminophen, affected the perception of joy in others.
Their latest study shows this time that this analgesic acts on empathy. “We don’t know why acetaminophen causes these effects, but it is worrying,” slips Baldwin Way, assistant professor of psychology at the Medical Center responsible for the Wexner study at Ohio University.
The research team selected 80 students who they divided into 2 groups: the first ingested 1g of paracetamol while another swallowed a placebo. None of the participants knew who had taken the medicine.
One hour after the dose, the volunteers were invited to read 8 scenarios in which one of the characters was in physical or mental pain, and to rate their emotional reaction from 1 to 5. As a result, the students who consumed paracetamol were less inclined to see and recognize the pain of the characters in the stories compared to the control group.
Emotions switch
To confirm their result, the authors of the study conducted a second surprising experiment including 114 students again divided into 2 groups. After swallowing the placebo or the drug, the volunteers received a noise in their ears ranging from 75 decibels (the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner) to 105 dB (a car horn). They then rated the discomfort, or even pain, from 1 to 10.
The researchers then asked them to imagine how a stranger might feel. Again, the volunteers who swallowed paracetamol judged that these noises would be less annoying or painful for others than for themselves.
“Acetaminophen is a painkiller, but it can also decrease the empathy that one feels for others even though they are going through the same painful situations”, underlines Dominik Mischkowski, one of the authors of the study.
Researchers admit they don’t know how paracetamol can influence our emotions. They will therefore continue their work to find out. They will also launch research to determine if these effects are also induced by other painkillers like ibuprofen.
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