Paracetamol’s Effect On Personality

There is a study that confirms the effect of paracetamol on the personality of the patient taking it. It explains unexpected effects that we did not know until recently. It can especially lead to a drop in empathy.

This drug, also called acetaminophen, is a common painkiller and antipyretic drug. Therefore, many people use it to treat pain and fever.

As with other medicines, it can cause some side effects. However, you can expect them when you start treatment. Until now, researchers only knew of side effects when ingested in high doses.

Studies confirming the effect of paracetamol on personality

So far, acetaminophen is useful for both physical and mental pain relief. Research from Ohio State University goes a step further.

At this university, they have been researching this drug. Throughout their work , they discovered a new side effect. In fact, these researchers found that paracetamol can reduce positive emotions.

Two studies were conducted with students from the same university.

First study on the effect of paracetamol on personality

The first study had 82 participants. Half of them took 1 gram of the drug. The other half took a placebo. Then they waited about 1 hour until the researchers showed them photos to evoke emotions. There were three types of photos:

• Very unpleasant: For example, the malnourished children showed.

• Neutral photos: These photos did not have a clear feel.
• Very pleasant photos.

After looking at each picture, they had to rate them on a like / dislike scale from -5 to 5. Then they had to rate the emotional reaction they had on a scale from 0 to 10. The result was that those who took the drug rated the images as less extreme than those who took placebo. In addition, the same thing happened with emotions.

Also read: Do you have an empathetic partner? 5 keys to the answer

Second study

Following these results, the researchers conducted another study in which they showed 85 people the same photos. Then they had to make the same assessments about emotional reactions as in the previous study. However, they added one more thing to make sure it only affects emotions, not judgments in general.

In addition, they had to assess how much blue they saw in each photo. Again, people taking paracetamol had different evaluations and emotional reactions compared to the placebo group. For both negative and positive photographs, there was a big difference.

Assessments of the content of blue, however, were similar whether the participants took the drug or not. Therefore, the results suggest that paracetamol affects emotions and not judgment.

Also read: Three natural painkillers to relieve migraines

Summary of the effect of paracetamol on personality

Right now , researchers do not know if other painkillers such as ibuprofen have the same effect. However, there are plans to study this.

Unlike many other painkillers, this drug is not a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). This means that it does not work against inflammation. However, we still do not know if this has to do with the effect of paracetamol on the personality.

In this study, it was found that some people react differently to positive and negative life events. This shows the effect of paracetamol on the personality. In any case, new research must confirm or rule out this.