Effects of intranasal oxytocin on interpretation and expression of emotions in anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Background

Altered social-emotional functioning is believed to play an important role in the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). Recently, there has been increasing interest investigating the role of intranasal oxytocin in social-emotional processing. Thus the present study aimed to investigate the effects of intranasal oxytocin on interpretation and expression of emotions among people with AN.

Method

Thirty women with AN and twenty-nine age-matched healthy women took part in the current study, which used a double blind, placebo controlled, crossover design. The participants received a single dose of 40 IU of intranasal oxytocin in one session and a placebo spray in the other. 15 minutes after administration the participants completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task (RMET) to assess interpretation of complex emotions and mental states followed by a video task, which assessed expressions of facial affect while viewing humorous and sad film clips.

Results

The intranasal oxytocin did not significantly influence expression or interpretation of emotions in the AN or HC groups. The AN group expressed significantly less positive emotion, spent more time looking away, and reported experiencing significantly more negative affect in response to the film clips.

Conclusions

The finding that intranasal oxytocin had little to no effect on interpretation or expression of emotions in either group supports the notion that the effects of oxytocin on social-emotional processing are not straightforward and may depend on individual and environmental differences as well as the emotion being processed. Still, replication of these findings is necessary to explore the effect of timing on the effects of oxytocin before firm conclusions can be drawn. Nonetheless, these findings add to the steady accumulation of evidence that people with AN have reduced emotional expression and avoidance of emotionally provoking stimuli.

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