By taking an analgesic paracetamol drug, you become less sensitive to someone else's physical and mental pain.

The unexpected effect of paracetamol on compassion is reported by scientists from Ohio State University, USA.

Psychologists say that participants in experiments that have taken paracetamol become more indifferent to other people who experience pain.

This suggests that paracetamol is not as harmless a remedy as was previously thought. His new psychological effect may have a negative impact on society, and we do not even suspect it.

The authors of the interesting discovery were Dr. Dominik Mischkowski, now a NIH employee, and Dr. Baldwin Way, a professor of psychology at the Institute for Behavioral Research at the Wexner Medical Center.

Their findings were published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

Paracetamol, or acetaminophen - one of the most common in the world of analgesics. This is the main active substance of panadol and Efferalgan preparations, as well as one of the components of our known solpadeine, citramone, citropac and pentalgin.

Every week, 23% of the US adult population (52 million people) at least once uses drugs containing paracetamol.

Early studies have shown that paracetamol is able not only to suppress pain, but also to cause positive emotions in patients, such as joy. The new work, as it were, supplements the previous results, continuing to disclose the psychological effects of the OTC analgesic.

"We do not know why paracetamol acts this way, but it worries us very much. Empathy is extremely important for society. If you have taken paracetamol and begin, say, argue with your spouse, then chances are that you will not understand things that hurt her feelings. This can affect the relationship, "say the authors.

To understand the issue, American researchers conducted a series of psychological experiments:.

Experiment number 1.

The first included 80 healthy volunteer students who were first given 1000 mg of paracetamol or a placebo. Participants did not know what they were using.

An hour after receiving, they were offered to read 8 short scenarios in which the hero suffered from physical or mental pain. For example, the hero received a deep knife or experienced depression after the death of a loved one.

Participants evaluated the pain of the hero on a scale of 1 (no pain at all) to 5 points (the maximum level of pain). As you might guess, the students who took paracetamol gave the heroes significantly smaller scores compared to those who used the placebo.

Experiment number 2.

For the second experiment, 114 students were recruited, half of whom received 1000 mg of paracetamol, and the other half with a placebo. The experiment was also blind, that is, the participants did not know about the contents of their glass.

First, each participant was exposed to a sharp and loud sound from 75 to 105 decibels. Scientists evaluated their sensations on a scale of 1 (no discomfort at all) to 10 (very unpleasant). Then they were asked how unpleasant these sensations might be for another participant in the study.

The results show that those who took the analgesic evaluated the discomfort from the abrupt sound below, both for themselves and for other people. Paracetamol not only dulled their own pain sensations, but also affected the perception of pain in outsiders.

Experiment number 3.

The next part of the experiment was to observe three people who played the game, and then excluded one participant from their circle. Students were asked to assess how unpleasant for a person such attitude.

And again we see that the volunteers who took paracetamol show amazing indifference to other people's experiences.

"All experiments show that paracetamol reduces the level of empathy, because of which people less empathize with others. In light of these results, we begin to better understand the social risks in the treatment with Tylenol and similar drugs, "the authors of the study said in an interview with an American publication.

In the future, scientists intend to study the effect of ibuprofen on empathy.

medbe. en.