Scientists discovered recently that a primary ingredient in analgesics called acetaminophen – commonly used as a pain killer – but can also affect one’s empathy towards another and yet another study claiming that it can even dull positive human emotions like joy and happiness.
This, after researchers from the Ohio State University claimed that based on a study that acetaminophen where it was found to affect people’s mental faculties to a point that it can change their behavior towards another.
Research lead Dr. Baldwin Way said that two experiments were conducted for the process, where 40 volunteers from the student population in the university participated in the tests and were given a drink with 1000 mgs of acetaminophen while another group of 40 students were given a placebo.
They were then provided with scenarios where someone was suffering from some sort of a physical or emotional condition and were asked to rate the level of pain those people had based on their individual evaluations.
The researchers found that the participants who were provided with the acetaminophen ingredient rated the suffering lower compared to those who did not.
The second experiment, on the other hand, involved a similar groups but this time all the participants were exposed to intermittent blasts of white noise and were asked to rate it on a scale from 1 being pleasant to 10 for extremely unpleasant and were then asked how they feel those blasts would make others feel as well.
The acetaminophen group claimed that rated the noise to be not unpleasant and would be less unpleasant for others as well.
“We do not know why acetaminophen has these effects, but is indeed concerning,” Dr. Way said, adding that empathy is important “that if you are having an argument with your spouse after taking acetaminophen, this study suggests you would be less understanding of what you did to hurt your spouse’s feelings.
Other studies have pointed to a near-similar scenario of guilt-inducing chemicals that may be found in acetaminophen that may affect the brain, as a Statistics Canada database reported that it has been linked to several suicides in British Columbia.
Scientists have not been able to exactly pinpoint culprit behind these increasing number of self-inflicted deaths, but have been associated with the massive over-the-counter retail of acetaminophen that’s making it easy to take the pills just like popping candies into your mouth.
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