Oxytocin and the altered ego: Altered face processing in social anxiety
Final Report Abstract
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the third most common mental illness after major depression and alcohol dependence. The core feature of SAD is excessive fear of negative appraisal by others. Recent research highlights the relevance of increased attention toward threatening faces, as well as their avoidance, in the maintenance of this disorder. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) is thought to have an anxiety-inhibitory effect and thus potentially clinical effect. Accordingly, high- and low-social-anxious males and females underwent assessments of attentional biases (Dot Probe Paradigm), approach and avoidance tendencies (Approach-Avoidance Task) and body sway in response to angry, neutral, happy, sad, surprised, fearful, and disgusted faces. In addition, saliva samples to assess cortisol, testosterone prior to testing, heart-rate and skin conduction during the body sway assessment and other psychopathological aspects were assessed. Over a 5-year period, a total of 52 high- and 100 low-social-anxiety women and men were tested in 2 sets of studies. All subjects were healthy, between 18 and 40 years of age. Female participants were neither pregnant nor breastfeeding and were not taking hormonal contraceptives. They were tested in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. While no final conclusive evaluation of the data has taken place, so far, analyses to date from bachelor- and mastertheses indicate that the effect of oxytocin on socially anxious subjects is context/stimulus dependent and does not have positive effects under all circumstances. These results deem a role for OXT as treatment adjunct in a clinical setting rather unlikely. The implementation of the study was primarily characterized by difficulties in recruiting the highly anxious (male) subjects, which considerably prolonged the project. This was due, on the one hand, to the medical examination required by the ethical committee, which significantly complicated the procedure/logistics, intensified the time investment and made it even more threatening for anxious participants to sign up. In addition, the lack of advertising and recruitment opportunities, the complexity of results, and the shortness of the approved project financing contributed to the unsatisfactory end of the project.
Publications
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(2015). Up your nose? The influence on nasal oxytocin on face processing in social anxiety. Annual Congress of the EABCT, Jerusalem, Israel
Lange, W.-G., Zieba, D., Heinrichs, M., Vitinius, F., & Gerlach, A. L.
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(2019). Biased face processing: Oxytocin promotes avoidance in social anxiety. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 107, 53-54
Lange, W.-G., Zieba, D., Vitinius, F., & Gerlach, A. L.
